


The Place Where Lost Things Go

by NaymeeTR76



Series: Bangtan Fairytales [4]
Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), But with a much happier ending, Established Min Yoongi | Suga/Park Jimin, Hoseok thinks its a trick of the light, If you were scared of Doctor Who and the Moomins then this may creep you out a tiny bit, Jungkook just wants to know what is going on, Mild Peril, Multi, Namjoon is a modern day Mellors, TXT are children, When Adora sings you listen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-18 21:15:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29496402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NaymeeTR76/pseuds/NaymeeTR76
Summary: In the middle of a deep blue ocean is a small island. On that small island there is a vast forest and at the edge of the forest is the sole village. Sometimes things go missing from the village, sometimes things appear. Whatever you do, don't sleep in the forest at night.Jeon Jungkook, fresh out of university finds himself on the island where he doesn't get the job of his dreams, but he finds a mystery that needs solving and a family that he didn't know he'd been missing.
Relationships: Jeon Jungkook/Kim Taehyung | V, Kim Namjoon | RM/Kim Seokjin | Jin, Min Yoongi | Suga/Park Jimin
Series: Bangtan Fairytales [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1613719
Comments: 11
Kudos: 6





	1. Prologue - Welcome to Pinan

**Author's Note:**

> A note for your mental clarity. In this story:
> 
> Junkook is 22
> 
> Yoongi is 33  
> Jimin is 32  
> Beomgyu and Leela are 11
> 
> Seokjin is 33  
> Taehyung is 29  
> Yeonjun is 13  
> Soobin is 12  
> Kai is 2
> 
> Adora is 33  
> Hoseok 26
> 
> Namjoon is 26  
> Taehyun is 4
> 
> All characters are fictional and not based on real life. Except Adora, who I totally believe could make ships crash on the rocks with her voice if she wanted to.

_**Welcome to Pinan Village** _

_피난 - Pinan Village, 40 miles off the coast of the mainland, somewhere north of the equator, but still lush and balmy._

_Inhabitants 1000 plus one private school with 350 students and staff._

_Notable for the deciduous forest that covers 80% of the land mass._

_Loosely monitored by the authorities on the mainland, but governed locally by the village council._

Once upon a time, there was a woman called Kim Juno. Juno lived in a big house on the edge of the forest. Her parents had passed away in a great storm that had hit the island many years ago, leaving her orphaned at the age of 17. 

The local village council women had been kind, taking her under their wing and training her up to be a great leader in the community. Juno was the latest in a great dynasty of matriarchs who had been born on the island and grew up to guide the local population through trials of life and pressure from the mainland. Theirs was a simple community. They didn't eschew modernity, but neither did they throw out all their sacred traditions for the sake of a shiny new gadget. 

At 18, Juno took her mother's seat on the council and over the years became well respected for her wisdom, kindness and fairness.

She never married. She never met a man who she liked enough, or respected enough, to give up her independence. She certainly had suitors, after all, she was young, beautiful and wealthy. Her house was the biggest on the island and she owned a lot of land. There wasn't anything she needed other than mutual respect and love, but all the men who came to visit were fixated on her possessions, and so they were sent away.

It was a time in history where, on the mainland at least, women were expected to marry and have babies, or be regarded as spinsters. The Island traditions gave women more power and equal rights amongst their male counterparts. Juno never felt sad about not having her own children, it wasn't a burning urge, but the older she got, the more she wondered what it would be like to fill her house with the sound of children playing and laughing. 

Her friend on the council had just given birth to a little girl and Juno had sniffed the baby's head appreciatively. The little warm bundle sleeping in her arms had felt solid and comfortable and handing her back to her mother, Juno had made sure to offer her babysitting service if her friend ever needed time to rest.

Years later, Juno was now 54 and her friend's daughter was a teenager. The council women were attending the weekly meeting when one of the fishermen ran in the door in a panic. He was holding a bundled up coat in his arms, close to his chest.

"We were out 15 miles off the mainland and saw a storm coming. As we were turning back, we came across a wreck. Bits of the boat floating with scraps of dead fish all tangled up in the ropes. We checked for any survivors but couldn't see anyone, except this."

He stepped forward and placed the bundle into Juno's arms.

It was a baby girl.

There had been much urgent discussion and the local fishermen had taken their boats back out as far as they dared to check for any survivors. The baby seemed to be no more than a few days old. 

"It's a case of jurisdiction." Juno had said sadly, after getting off the phone with the mainland. "She was found in their waters. They say they have a better chance of finding her family than we do. I mean, we know she doesn't belong to anyone from our village." 

The council women had taken it in turns to hold the baby and feed her until the authorities arrived from the mainland. They took statements from the fishermen and then a social worker had gathered the tiny little thing into her arms and taken her away.

That night, Juno had wept. She wept for the lost mother, for the orphaned child and for herself. She prayed to the goddess of the forest to help her conquer her loneliness and fell into a restless sleep. 

Another storm came that night and battered the windows, the trees of the forest creaking in protest at the assault. By morning however, the sky was blue and the sun warmed the earth.

Juno decided that it was too pretty a day to be sad, so she went to say hello to her horses and her chickens and found a clutch of perfect eggs waiting for her. She thanked her hens and carried them back to the kitchen.

"Omelette." she decided. 

Juno put on her straw hat, picked up her basket and went through the back perimeter of her garden into the trees. There was a spot where she could pick fresh mushrooms and right now, she was craving mushroom omelette. She stepped through the trees to a small clearing where the sunlight hit the floor and gasped.

There, in front of her, a small child lay curled around a tiny baby in the centre of a fairy ring.


	2. We Seem To Have Lost Our Cat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jungkook's 11 year old cousins talk in riddles and he has no idea what's going on.  
> You know what will help? A screaming baby and his flirty dad. Yep.

#  Chapter 1

“So let me see if I understand correctly.” Jungkook flipped back a page in his notebook and reviewed his notes with a frown,

“There was a loud hissing, something like a firework going off, and then all the power went out.”

“Yes.” The little girl sat up straight on her stool and nodded seriously.

“And while you were trying to find your wind-up torch, you heard nothing.”

“Exactly.” She looked at him as if he was failing to grasp a simple concept.

“And this is significant because usually you hear everything?” Jungkook was still confused. He looked the young girl in the eye and sighed.

“Can you explain that to me?”

  
  
  
  
  


Leela, the little girl in question, was 11 years old and the daughter of Jungkook’s landlords Jimin and Yoongi, Yoongi being his older cousin who he hadn’t seen much of growing up, but who had offered him the room in his attic 1 month ago, when he’d heard through their mothers that Jungkook was looking for a place to live.

It all started when Jimin had knocked on his door that morning to apologize about the power cut and ask if anything of his had gone missing during the outage. Puzzled, he had looked around his tiny studio apartment at the top of their three story house and then told Jimin, no, not that he was aware of. 

Jimin told him that they seem to have lost their cat Leonard and for a short time, their son Beomgyu, but he’d reappeared after a frantic 45 minutes.

“Sauntered in from the back garden like nothing had happened.” Jimin clinched his chest dramatically, “I could have brained him.” 

Jungkook nodded politely. He was a lot younger than his cousin and was beginning to get closer to him, but he didn’t know Jimin so well yet. They didn’t often idly chatter, more like saying hello and smiling if they crossed paths. He certainly didn’t feel he knew Jimin well enough to talk about chastising his children. 

If anything, they seemed like good kids, Jungkook rarely saw or heard them. Occasionally if he looked out of his window, he’d see them emerging from or disappearing into the trees that lined the garden. He often wondered what they got up to in the woods and thought about how different his own childhood had been, in a highrise flat in the city.

“Did you find the cat yet?” He asked. Jimin shook his head. 

“No, we are a bit worried, because he’s a real scaredy cat and rarely goes outside. The twins have got it into their heads that he was catnapped.”

“Does that happen often?” Jungkook had found Leonard sleeping on his bed a few times. He was a black moggy, certainly not a purebred Persian Blue or anything worth stealing.

“Not really. Keep a lookout for him when you go out would you?”

Jungkook had agreed, of course, and carried on getting ready for his job in the local council office. 

It wasn’t his ideal career choice, but it paid decently and he was able to save quite a bit after his rent and food. He kept applying for newspapers and online journals, hoping that one day he’d get his big break. Meantime, here he was, doing admin and general office work for the council officers. One of the people he assisted regularly looked after the registration and care of working animals in the island's farms and small holdings. The lady, called Mina, would monitor the wellbeing and health certificates of livestock and sometimes dealt with disappearances and unexplained deaths.

When he arrived at his desk there was a pile of paperwork and a sticky note on top from Mina saying that she urgently needed his help today.

“The phone has been ringing non stop since 8am, and there were people waiting for me when I arrived.” she told him, in between sips of her much needed coffee.

“What has happened?” Jungkook asked, intrigued. This was promising to be the most exciting thing that had ever happened in the job so far.

“8 Cows, 16 sheep, 2 pigs, a flock of geese, and a sheepdog. All gone missing, from 4 different farms and two small holdings.”

“When?”

“Last night, during the blackout.” Jungkook gaped.

“And Leonard.” he blurted out

“Who is Leonard?” Mina asked, confused.

“My cousin’s cat. They told me this morning that he’d gone missing. Their son did too for 45 minutes but then he came back in. He’d been in their garden.”

“In the blackout? In the middle of the night? How old is he?”

“Eleven I think.”

“They must have been frantic.”

Jungkook chuckled, 

“Yes I think Jimin is going to lock him in his room until he’s 25.”

Mina went through all the reports with him and they divided them. Jungkook had a list of places to visit and people to talk to, and he thought he may as well add Leonard to the list.

So here he was, later that evening, after having visited every home on his list, sitting in Yoongi’s kitchen talking to Leela.

  
  
  


“I hear everything, all of the time.” the girl said as if this was perfectly normal information. “I can hear the trees whispering and the house creaking. I can hear when dad whispers to Appa in their bedroom and they think we are asleep.”

“Leela..” groaned Yoongi,

“What? I can! It’s ok dad, I block you out when you start kissing.” Yoongi choked from his perch on the counter in the corner of the kitchen. 

“When the lights all went out, then all the sound went out as well. I’m so used to the noise. My teacher says it’s called white noise, like noise you can’t hear because it’s always there, you know?”

Jungkook nodded,

“Yes I know.”

“Well when it stopped it was like it was deafening, the silence was so sudden, it made me jump the same as a loud bang had just before.”

Leela looked at her dad who nodded in encouragement.

“And then I heard the voice call and Leonard and Beommi followed it.”

“Why didn’t you follow it?” Jungkook asked.

“Because they didn’t want me.” Leela said, almost sadly. 

“Who didn’t want you?”

“The voice. I heard them, but they weren’t calling me.”

Jungkook looked up at Yoongi who shrugged. He didn't quite understand it either. 

“Can I speak to Beommi?”

“Yeah, I'll get him.”

Beomgyu trudged into the kitchen a few minutes later following Jimin. He looked slightly sulky and Jungkook suspected he’d been getting some stern fatherly words about disappearing in the middle of the night.

“Hi Beommi” Jungkook said in what he hoped was an approachable friendly way. Beomgyu looked warily at him, no doubt confused as to why this person who usually kept out of their way was being nice to him.

“Can you tell me why you left the house last night?”

“Are you going to yell at me as well?” he mumbled and hissed as his dad pinched his earlobe for being cheeky.

“They called.”

“Who?”

“The collector.”

Jungkook saw his cousin wipe a tired hand over his eyes and whisper ‘what the fuck..’

“The collector?” Jungkook managed to refrain from repeating what Yoongi had said.

“Why did they call you and not your sister?

“They called for those who couldn’t hear, but she always hears too much, so she could still hear the way to say no.”

Jungkook was confused and slightly terrified at that. He looked at the twins’ parents who were both frowning in concern. 

“I saw Soobin there. I don’t know if he got away.”

They all turned to look at Beomgyu, his sister sitting as close to him as she could without actually being on his lap. 

“Who is Soobin?” Jungkook asked.

“One of the foundlings.” 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Ten minutes and one phone call later, Jungkook found himself in the passenger seat of Yoongi’s Land Rover, his cousin driving them along the sort of barely beaten track that shakes your bones and often leads to being horribly murdered in woods.

“Where are we going?” he asked, grabbing on to the ceiling grab handle to stop his head meeting the window as the car navigated a particularly deep hole in the road.

“To Seokjin’s, to see if Soobin came home.”

“They live all the way out here?” Jungkook looked around, everywhere was dense with trees. Some parts of the track were so narrow, the branches scraped the vehicle as they squeezed through. He guessed Yoongi was beyond caring about his paintwork at this point. 

“The house is hundreds of years old, their family has had it for generations.”

“You’d think the road would have been better paved by now then.” Jungkook snorted as another bump jolted him forward.

“Technically, this is a bridle path. They aren’t huge car enthusiasts.” Yoongi mused, “They have a battered old Jeep that they only bought because they couldn’t bring the boys to school on horseback in the winter.

“Horseback?”

“Yep. They have horses. I think Tae could ride before he could walk.”

“Who is Tae?”

“Seokjin’s younger brother. They inherited the house from their grandmother, Kim Juno. She was legendary around here. Died years before we moved here, but Jimin’s Grandmother knew her and he remembers stories. She was like the local wise woman, made herbal remedies for peoples animals and kids. Most of the village would rather go to her than the doctor in the next town.”

“And Soobin is Seokjin’s son?”

“I think legally, now, yes.” Jungkook looked at his cousin curiously. 

“Seokjin and Taehyung found the boys abandoned on their land. Soobin was a toddler, Yeonjun, still an infant in swaddling. They took them in and raised them.”

“The authorities let them keep them?” Jungkook was surprised. He couldn’t imagine such a thing happening so easily in the city.

“They were willing to adopt them and there was no trace of the babies’ parents. The Kim boys are well respected, no one had any objections.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah. It was just after we came to the village. Our twins were born about six months after their boys were found, so we got to know them as we were the only other men raising babies nearby.”

“Ha. The village seems ok though? With you and Jimin being together?”

Yoongi smiled.

“Yes, we have found a safe haven here. The more I find out about this place and its history, the more I realise we are amongst friends. The village tends to collect the lost and give them a home.”

“Like me as well?”

Yoongi didn’t answer, he took a tight left turn and there as the trees parted, stood a huge ramshackle house. 

  
  
  
  


It was about 8pm now and although it was summer, the trees made it feel much darker and later. There were a couple of lights on in the house and as they got out of the car, the front door opened.

“Yoongi hyung!” A tall handsome man stepped out in his bare feet and opened his arms for a hug. Jungkook looked on in astonishment as his usually taciturn cousin allowed himself to be engulfed in the other man’s hug. 

“Good to see you little Hyung.” he grinned as he released Yoongi. “And who is this?” 

Jungkook felt himself blushing as he was appraised from top to toe and back again.

“This is my cousin Jungkook. He moved in with us about a month ago.” Yoongi nodded towards him. “Jungkook, this is Taehyung.”

Taehyung shoved Yoongi aside playfully and held out a hand.

“Hi, I can’t believe they kept you hidden from me this long, I’m Taehyung. Jimin’s soulmate, Yoongi’s favourite and Jungkookie’s to be decided.” 

Yoongi snorted, Jungkook choked. 

“Hello. Nice to meet you.” Taehyung’s hand was warm and soft. Jungkook forgot to let go. Taehyung grinned widely and kept hold of it, turning and pulling him into the house. 

“Come and meet the family.”

  
  
  
  


They were led into a cosy sitting room, filled with sofas and chairs and bookcases. Two boys were on the sofa, facing each other playing a game. 

There was a little boy of about 2 sitting on the rug in front of the fireplace playing with a fluffy puppy. When Taehyung walked in, the toddler scrambled to his feet and waddled over to him as fast as he could, arms reaching up for a carry. 

“Tete! Up, Tete up!” 

Taehyung finally let go of Jungkook’s hand so he could pick up the baby.

“Jungkook, this is most of my family.” Taehyung smiled softly at the little boy and pressed a gentle kiss on his hair as he snuggled into Tae’s neck.

“Those two are my nephews, Soobin at the far end and Yeonjun who is currently cheating at Battleships.” 

There was a yell of protest, and the boys’ game board was cast aside in place of a playful scuffle.

“I knew you were cheating!”

“I was not!!” 

Taehyung grinned as he turned his back on the chaos. 

“And this adorable duckling is my baby Kai.” he tickled Kai’s tummy and his giggle was so joyful, Jungkook couldn’t help but smile.

“Boys, BOYS” another voice called. Jungkook looked around Taehyung's shoulder and saw another tall handsome man walking in through a door on the far side of the room, carrying a tray of cups.

“Seokjin, hi.” Yoongi stepped across the scrapping boys and took the tray so that the taller man could disentangle his sons. 

“And this is my brother Seokjin.”

Once he had settled the boys into playing quietly again, he stepped forward and shook Jungkook’s hand. 

“And you are?”

“My cousin, Jungkook. He lives in our attic. ” Yoongi introduced them. “Thanks for letting us come over Jin. Kookie works with Mina at the council, and he’s looking into the livestock disappearances last night. We wanted to ask the boys about the blackout.”

  
  
  
  
  
  


10 minutes later, they were sitting around the room with mugs of chamomile tea - “to help them calm down for bedtime” - and listening to Soobin tell his story.

  
  


“Something woke me up in the night. At first I didn’t know why, Yeonjunnie was snoring, but no louder than usual.”

Yeonjun raised his arm to hurl his cushion at his brother, but Seokjin cast a steely glance at him and he froze, retreated and took a sip of his tea, head down.

“Everything was quiet, I closed my eyes again but then I felt the air shift. I knew it couldn’t be Kai as he sleeps with Tete,”

_ (Jungkook didn’t quite understand this statement but he didn’t want to interrupt the boy’s flow of thought)  _

“so I went to the window to check and I saw Midnight and Flossie going into the woods, so I went to catch them.”

“Who?” Jungkook murmured quietly.

“Two of our horses.” explained Taehyung next to him. On his lap Kai clapped his hands together and giggled,

“Horsie!”

“That’s right baby! Clever boy.” Taehyung blew a raspberry on the toddler’s belly and he squealed with delight. Jungkook thought he heard the windows rattle, but everyone else ignored it.

“AS I WAS SAYING” Soobin rolled his eyes, “I ran after Midnight and Flossie and the further I went, the more animals I saw. I managed to grab Flossie by the mane and get on her back, then I cantered up alongside Midnight, grabbed her mane as well and managed to persuade them both to come home. I couldn’t stop the other animals though, sorry.” He looked really sad. Seokjin rubbed his back encouragingly. 

“You did well son, don’t worry.”

“Did you see Beomgyu while you were there?” Yoongi asked.

“Hello Mr Min, Yes Mr Min, I saw Beommy out there. Did he get home ok?”

Yoongi nodded, 

“Yes he came home, but he couldn't find Leonard.”

“Oh they collected Leonard? Oh no, that’s sad.” Soobin looked at his brother and they shared some unspoken communication. 

“What do you mean collected?” Jungkook asked. 

“It was the collectors. They collect things.” 

Once again Jungkook felt like he was being spoken to like an idiot by a preteen and once again, he had absolutely no idea what was going on.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Seokjin invited them to stay while he went to put the two older boys to bed. Taehyung got up to put the kettle on again, hoiking Kai up on his left hip and reaching to carry the tray with his right hand.

Jungkook got up immediately and went to take the baby from him. 

“Shall I hold him for you?”

Before either Taehyung or Yoongi could warn him, Kai took one look at the stranger approaching him with open arms and screamed. 

This time Jungkook knew that the windows rattled. So did the cups and spoons on the tray. Taehyung shoved the tray at him and pulled Kai into his chest, holding him tight with both arms.

“It’s ok baby, it’s ok. It’s Tete, see?” he looked down at the wide teary eyes and red face and kissed him on the forehead. “It’s me, I’ve got you.”

“I’m sorry!” Jungkook stepped back, mortified.

“It’s ok, he’ll be fine. Can you bring the tray for me?” Taehyung walked away out of the far door and Jungkook, rooted to the spot in shock, looked to his cousin for guidance. Yoongi removed his hands from his ears and gave a pained smile. 

“Follow him, he’ll explain better than I can.” 

  
  
  


Jungkook headed cautiously through the door and followed a long dark hallway to the end, where bright light shone through an open door.

He saw Taehyung crooning to the baby, who had his face buried in his appa’s neck. The kettle was the old fashioned type, sitting on an ancient range, puttering away as it slowly came to the boil. Their eyes met and Taehyung beckoned him in, nodding to a chair at the table.

“How are your ears?” he whispered with a good natured grin on his face. 

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to scare him.” 

“I should have warned you. He’s not good with other people.” Taehyung sat down slowly, so as to not disturb the little one, who was now snoring gently on his shoulder.

“I found him when he’d just hatched, we think he imprinted on me.” 

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand. You found him? He hatched??” 

Taehyung looked at Jungkook carefully, as if he were judging his intentions.

“How much do you know about the village?”

“Not much. Yoongi and Jimin came here because Jimin inherited his grandmother’s house. Yoongi told me that she used to know your grandmother.”

Taehyung nodded and smiled at the memory.

“What else?”

“Nothing much, I came here a month ago. I couldn’t get a job in the city and my aunt told my mum that Yoongi had the attic room available. They basically got me the job at the council. My interview was not much more than Mina asking how the twins were and telling me when to start.”

Taehyung laughed at this.

“Well, you must have come highly recommended, Jungkook. Yoongi and Jimin are well respected. Their school was a godsend for the village. People apply for places from all over the country you know, but they guarantee a place for every village child.”

“That’s nice. Your boys go there?”

“Seokjin’s boys do. Mine is too little to leave me just yet.” he pressed his nose into the baby’s hair and inhaled. “I love the smell of a freshly hatched baby, don’t you?” 

“I.. I don’t know. I haven’t really had many babies to smell. I didn’t meet the twins until a month ago. What do you mean hatched? Don’t you mean born?”

“Ahaha," Taehyung's eyes twinkled in the low light, "It’s just my little joke for my duckling. He was left in a swaddling cloth behind the stable last spring. I found him quacking to himself when I went to muck out the horses. That’s why it was me, the horses are my responsibility.”

Jungkook was trying to follow, he really was, but he was a city boy, raised in a high rise and had no idea about horses or mucking out or…

“Someone left him at your stables? Why do people keep leaving babies at your house? Isn’t it concerning?”

“Yes of course it’s not ideal. Legend has it that this house was a safe house for foundlings - unwanted babies. My family would take in anyone who needed help and find them a home to go to. Nothing like that had happened for generations until Grandmother found us.”

“You were foundlings?” Jungkook gasped. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t pry.”

Taehyung waved off his protestation,

“Don’t be silly, it was me that mentioned it. I don’t mind telling you, it’s no secret.” He got up to take the kettle off the heat and Jungkook watched on, impressed, as he poured the hot water into the teapot with one hand, the other holding the sleeping boy close.

“Our Grandmother told us that she was gathering mushrooms for breakfast and saw us fast asleep in a fairy ring. Jin was about 2 and she thinks I was just a few days old, just hatched.” he chuckled quietly, remembering how his grandmother had told him the story when he was still small enough to sit on her lap.

“She was 54, unmarried and childless and had this big old house, so she offered to adopt us and the local authorities agreed. The council was made up of the older women of the oldest families, my grandmother was one of them. They all contributed clothes and baby things. We were raised by the village really, Jimins’ grandmother included.”

“Do you know where you came from?”

“We came from the forest.” Taehyung smiled. “Like this little one and the two upstairs. The forest collects and the forest delivers.”

“I don’t understand.”

“This forest is huge and there are a great many things in it that we don’t fully understand. My grandmother’s ancestors never wrote down why children would appear here, or why things sometimes went missing, just that they did and they and the village took care of it. 

Jin and I are biological brothers, that much we know. We had a DNA test done after Juno passed away. But there is no trace of any relative in any registers in the country. When the mitochondrial DNA was studied, they said they couldn’t guarantee the test was accurate as they’d never had a result like ours before.

“What was it?”

“Jin and I are biologically twins, even though he is definitely older than me. And our ancestry is specifically this region, nowhere else. It's as if we were born of the forest.”

“That’s… I have never heard anything like it. What about the boys?”

“We haven’t had their results back yet. I have my theories, but I don’t want to freak you out any more than I already have this evening."

Jungkook tried to let it all percolate through his mind so he could make sense of it. He looked at his notebook and realised he hadn’t asked what he’d come for.

“Do you have any idea why your horses were taken?”

“The collectors.”

  
  


Jin and Yoongi appeared then, Jin went to pour them all a fresh cup of tea and they all four sat around the table.

“Take Kai to bed.” Jin told his younger brother, “I’ll tell Jungkook about the animals.”

Taehyung got up, smiled at Jungkook warmly and left with the baby.

“I hope he hasn’t overwhelmed you with family history.” Jin asked, trying to gauge how freaked out their new friend was.

“Honestly? It’s a lot to process. But if you could help me understand why the animals were taken, that would be a good start. I have to report back to Mina tomorrow. Who or what are the collectors?”

Jin got up and went to the Welsh dresser at the far end of the kitchen. There were old serving dishes and jugs on the uppermost shelves, but all along the widest lower shelf were what looked like cookery books. Jin pulled one out and brought it to the table.

“This is one of Juno’s grandmother’s recipe books.” He set it on the table and flicked through the handwritten pages, yellowed and brittle with age.

He found the entry he was looking for and turned the book so Jungkook could read it.

There was a page of notes and a line drawing. 

“Collectors” he read. “Rarely seen, keepers of the lost things. Only call for what they need, give back what they cannot keep.”

The picture showed a sketch of shadowy hooded figures leading animals into the trees.

Jungkook jumped in fright as Jin tapped the picture with his finger.

“Those are collectors.”

  
  


##  **_Interlude_ **

_ Excerpt from Kim Family records _

_ Once upon a time there was an Island and on that island was a huge forest. It covered most of the land from shore to mountain. One small village lay clustered around the edge, but only one dwelling reached beyond the treeline.  _

_ The family that lived there had been there for generations, never expanding their holding, always staying in the parcel of land the forest had allowed them. No one knew when they had arrived, even the family themselves said that they had always been there. The origins of the first island settlers were lost in time. _

_ The matriarch of the family always led the village council, along with the older women from the six other bloodlines. They made and upheld the local laws and managed the regulations required by the government on the mainland. _

_ Occasionally people would come from the mainland and try to explore the forest, but most gave up after a few hours and an unrecorded number never made it back out.  _

_ The villagers on the island would warn the visitors to stick to the pathways and not venture too far. When they asked them why, the answer was always, “we must respect the forest.” _


	3. Things That Go Silent In The Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unplanned sleepover leads to Jungkook seeing things he wished he hadn't and inadvertently entrancing the entrancers.

#  Chapter 2

  
  
  


“What the fuck.” Yoongi had said when Jin showed them the book. 

“What the actual fuck.” He’d said again as Jin retold the story, passed down by generations of the Kim family, of unseen creatures who called for things they needed in the dark, but would always leave payment in return. Sometimes a good crop, sometimes a discovery of hidden treasure, and once in a blue moon, a child. 

“Or two.” 

“Or two.” Jin conceded. 

“Why did my son say they called him?” Yoongi had gritted out, fear for his children freezing his blood. “Will they come back for him?” He had risen to leave and Jin had rested a gentle hand on his friend’s arm.

“They have never taken a child who was well cared for. Soobin has a sight more insightful than most. I suspect he sensed the call and curiosity captured both him and the cat. He wouldn’t have been able to come home if they truly wanted him.”

“Jin, I know you are trying, but none of that is making me feel better. Kookie come on. I want to go home and check the kids and the locks on the doors and windows.”

The both stood to leave and Jin led them back out to the front door. Taehyung appeared from the stairs as they were putting on their shoes. 

“Leaving so soon?” He sidled up to Jungkook, offering his hand as the latter wobbled, standing on one foot, trying to shove the other back in his boot. Jungkook rested heavily on him with a quiet thanks.

“Yoongi is keen to get home and make sure the children are safe.” Jin said. Taehyung raised an eyebrow.

“Why wouldn’t they be? Jimin experimenting in the kitchen again?” Jungkook snorted but Yoongi’s face remained deadpan.

“Your brother told me about how faceless creatures from the forest came in the dark to steal everything they wanted from the village, including my son and my cat.”

“I didn’t say they were faceless, we just haven’t ever seen their face….” Jin petered off as his friend glared at him with the face that is commonly interpreted as ‘Just try me’.

Jungkook, finally booted on both feet, stood and let go of his host.

“I still don’t understand about the missing animals. What should I tell Mina? Can we get them back?”

Taehyung looked at his brother and back at Jungkook. 

“The stories say that they would only take what they needed or what was lost. They would leave payment or an exchange of goods. Have you spoken to the people who lost livestock? Did the missing animals have anything in common?”

Jungkook reached in his backpack to get his notebook out again. Taehyung put a hand on his arm and looked at Yoongi, standing impatient to leave by the door.

“You go ahead, I can bring him home later.” he looked at Jungkook’s surprised face,

“If you don’t mind?”

“Uh, No! I would really appreciate it, thank you.”

Yoongi nodded.

“Ok. You have your key? Make sure you set the bolt after you come in then.”

“I will. See you later hyung.”

They left Jin to wave off Yoongi and went back to the kitchen. Taehyung steered Jungkook back to the table and then disappeared into a walk-in pantry next to the dresser.

“We are going to need snacks!” he called and came back with arms full of treats.

The next couple of hours were spent in a companionable communion of snacking.

Jungkook went through his notes, reading out loud and answering Taehyung’s questions every so often.

“Did any of them say which of their animals were taken?” He asked, tapping his lip in thought. “Mr Kang has six pigs, but you said he only lost two, and Mrs Lee lost one of her three dogs.”

Jungkook looked back for the information and Taehyung made a list.

_ Mr Kang - 2 pigs - Mabel and Dot _

_ Mrs Lee - one dog - Dal _

_ Choi Farm - 10 sheep - unknown _

_ Park Farm - 5 geese and one milking cow- Belle _

_ Blossom Farm - 6 sheep  _

_ Dell Farm - 9 cows.  _

_ Mins - 1 cat - Leonard _

_ Kims - almost 2 horses - Midnight and Flossie _

  
  


“Dal is as ancient as Mrs Lee,” Taehyung ran his finger down the list, and Mabel and Dot were the original two sows, the other four are their piglets. Hmm, I wonder. Belle, is she the oldest of the two milk cows at Park farm?”

“I can’t believe you know the names of all the village animals.” Jungkook snorted.

“Of course I do! They are much nicer than a lot of the people.” Taehyung grinned at him and pointed to the bottom of the list. 

“How old is Yoongi’s cat?”

“As far as I know Leonard is as old as the twins, so 11.” Jungkook added, Taehyung wrote 11 next to Leonard’s name on the list.

“How about your two horses?”

“Midnight is mine, I've had her since I was 9, so that makes her 16. Not ancient, but not a foal anymore either. Flossie was Juno’s horse. She must be older than me, I don’t remember her not being here.”

“So quite old for a horse then?”

“Yes, she’s definitely retired now, we don’t ride her or make her work.”

“So do you think all of these animals were really old then? I didn’t think the Choi’s sheep were? They seemed pretty fed up as they were supposed to be going for slaughter. I am sure they were mostly lambs.”

The door opened and Seokjin walked in dressed in pyjamas. 

“It’s late and there’s a storm coming.” The two seated men looked out of the window and saw that it had started to rain, the trees behind the house swaying in the wind. 

“Jungkook, you are welcome to stay over, but if you have to go home, Tae you should take him now.”

There was a flash of lightning and after a count of three, the thunder followed, rattling the windows in their frames.

“Looks like it’s here already.” Taehyung stood to lean his head out of the window and pulled it back in, drenched. “It would be better if you stayed please Jungkookie, I wouldn’t fancy negotiating the bridle path in this weather.”

Seokjin rushed to call Yoongi and let him know “Before the phone lines drop out.” Taehyung laughed at Jungkook’s stricken face.

“Don't worry, we’ll be fine in the house. It’s just the old telephone lines often go down in storms. Let me show you where you can sleep. The spare room is next to me and Kai.”

“The baby sleeps with you?”

“We originally tried him in his own room, but he’s very attached to me and the screaming every night was too disturbing for the rest of them.” 

“He has a powerful scream.” Jungkook agreed. “He sleeps through when he’s with you?”

“Yes, the little pickle, just wants to be cuddled all night and then sleeps like a starfish, Such a tiny thing taking up all the bed.”

They went up the stairs and Jungkook followed Taehyung down a corridor until he stopped at a door. He touched it lightly.

“This is my room. Just come if you need anything in the night.” he moved to the next door and opened it, beckoning his guest inside. 

“You’ll be here.” The room was painted yellow and parchment white with details of little ducks and daisies dotted about. It was a very happy room. There was a single bed in one corner and a cot in the other. 

“The nursery, as you have probably guessed. Or as Kai likes to think, his spare room where he keeps his stuff.” He opened the wardrobe and pointed to the folded blankets on the top shelf.

“Spare blankets and pillows up there. Make yourself comfortable. If you need anything, I’m just next door.”

“Thank you.”

  
  
  
  
  


The wind and rain battered the windows long into the night. Jungkook lay in bed staring at the shadows that danced across the ceiling in time to the storm. Around 2am, according to his wristwatch, the wind suddenly stopped howling and the air stilled. It was enough to make him stir out of his restless sleep and sit up in alarm. 

How could silence make his heart thump so much? He remembered what Leella had told him the day before, 

_ “when it stopped it was like it was deafening, the silence was so sudden, it made me jump”  _

Jungkook reached for the bottle of water by the bed and took a sip. And almost spat it across the room when the first scream came out of nowhere.

  
  
  
  
  


He was out of his room and pulling open the door next to his before he’d registered his own movements.

He stopped suddenly as if he’d walked into a glass wall. The sound was so powerful, it felt like he’d been punched in the brain.

Taehyung was sitting up in his bed, Kai in his arms, trying to calm him. Kai was standing up on his fathers lap, legs and back rigidly straight as he pointed at the window and screamed. Jungkook rushed to the window and looked out. There was no light pollution out here and the darkness was immense. The trees blocked any star light that may have lit the ground, he wasn’t sure where the trees ended and the backyard began. 

When looking at the night sky for far off constellations, sometimes the stars disappear if you look at them directly, and reappear in your peripheral vision as you look away. Jungkook had this sensation now as he scanned again out across the trees. There was intense blackness but then in the edge of his vision he saw a flicker of something. It was gone as he flicked his gaze back but then there, again.

The screaming halted momentarily as Kai took a breath. Jungkook looked at the boy and followed his gaze and hand to where he was pointing.

There, between the trees, looking impossibly high off the ground, was a pair of pale glowing eyes. 

“They’ve come back.” Taehyung whispered.

The baby started screaming again and the eyes disappeared.

  
  
  
  
  
  


Jin walked in the room and handed Taehyung a sippy cup which was gratefully received and thrust into the child’s mouth. Kai blinked, grabbed it with both hands and started sucking thirstily. 

“All the screaming gives him a sore throat.” Jin remarked drily as the baby gulped like a desert nomad at an oasis. He walked over to the window.

“What did he see?”

“Eyes.” Jungkook said shakily and both men stared at him.

“I saw eyes, there in the trees.” He pointed impossibly high, “They were looking right into the room.”

  
  
  
  
  


Taehyung got up, put on his shoes and rushed out of the room, still holding on to the baby. Jin followed and Jungkook, not really knowing what else to do, went after the pair of them.

Taehyung ran down the stairs, out the back door and across the garden to where the stables stood at the side of the house. They found him clinging onto the back of a huge black horse, tears streaming down his face, whispering frantically into its ears. The horse was distressed, scraping at the ground with its hooves, and head shaking as Taehyung desperately tried to calm it down. Jin moved to the stall beyond and saw it was empty. 

“Flossie.” he said sadly. The other four horses were in their stalls, unnerved by the chaos, but not trying to escape. 

Jin walked out of the stables and towards the trees. Yeonjun and Soobin were already there staring into the darkness.

“Leave!” he shouted, “You will not take any more!” Either side of him, his sons took his hands and held out their free hands in front of them, palms facing the trees. Jungkook watched on in horrified fascinations, half scared out of his mind, but unable to take his eyes off them. If it hadn’t been so very dark, he would have missed the slight glow that came off them. He would swear that they were floating a few inches off the ground, but when he blinked and looked again, they were turning and running back to the stables. Must have been his brain tricking him in the lack of light, he thought. 

Suddenly he realised in all of this, someone was missing.

“Where is the baby??” he cried, turning back to look at Taehyung, now standing back on the ground, stroking the now much calmer horse. Taehyung turned and pointed to a spot behind the door. Jungkook walked further in and looked behind it. 

Kai was sitting on a bale of hay, chewing on his cup thoughtfully. When he saw Jungkook looking at him, he opened his mouth for a second and Jungkook braced for another assault on the ears. But then the baby blinked slowly, put his cup back in his mouth and started to suck.

“I think he’s beginning to like you.” 

Taehyung gave a wet laugh, still sniffing back tears. Jungkook walked back over to him and tentatively placed a hand on the horse’s neck. 

“Is this Midnight?” he asked, patting gently. The horse was sweating and still tense under his touch.

“Yes. This is my Midnight.” he pushed his face into the horse’s neck and sighed shakily,

“I wasn’t ready to let her go.”

“Do you think they will come back again?” 

“Not tonight, but maybe. They obviously really want to collect her.”

Soobin ran in then and flung his arms around Midnight’s neck, kissing her. 

“Please stay with us Midnight, don’t leave us.” 

  
  


“You should go back to bed.” Taehyung told Jin and the boys, “I will keep watch.”

“You can’t stay out here all night with the baby, Tae” Jin said, not unkindly. “And you know he won’t come with any of us.”

“Bring us blankets, it’s not that cold and the storm has passed. We can sleep up in the hay loft”

I want to stay as well.” Soobin said, climbing up onto the hay bale. Kai looked at him flatly, clambered up onto his little legs and toddled across to the next bale. He sat down, smacked both hands down in front of him and said,

“Tete, come. Stay horsie.” 

Taehyung smiled at his son and climbed up on the bale next to him, gathering him up onto his lap and kissing his soft hair.

“Shall I bring the blankets from your bed?” Jungkook offered, wanting to be useful.

“Thank you, yes.” 

Jungkook headed back to the house and met Yeojun at the back door, coming out with an armful of duvets. He grinned at the house guest and stood aside to let him in.

“Are you going to stay out with us?” he asked.

“Oh, I don’t know, I was just getting the blanket for the baby.”

“You should bring the fleece one with ducks on. He likes that.” Yeonjun suggested and then jogged off with his awkward load.

Jungkook made his way back upstairs and gathered up the duvet from Taehyung’s bed. He saw a soft little yellow blanket between the pillows and reached for that as well. Stepping out of the room he turned to go back down the stairs, stopped for a second and then turned about, walking into the nursery and grabbing the cover off his own bed.

He wasn’t sure what made him choose to stay outside with them. It may have been that he wanted to show support and help protect the remaining animals. It may have been that he was afraid to stay the rest of the night alone in the house, or that he couldn’t get the tear stained face of his host out of his mind. Maybe it was a mix of all three. 

He made it down the stairs and across the garden without dropping any of his blankets, but not really being able to see where he was going. He stopped with a jolt on walking into an immovable force. He assumed it was the doorframe of the stable, but the yelp revealed it to be Seokjin.

“Oh I’m so sorry!” he stammered, feeling the blush rising. Fortunately, the sky was still black and there was only a low light coming from the lantern that had been lit.

“Don’t worry about it, I get run into about ten times a day.” he sighed dramatically. “I’m just going to lock the back door. Are you going back in or staying out here with us?”

“Erm, with you if it’s ok?”

“Of course, I don’t blame you. Safety in numbers eh?” And with that reassuring phrase he disappeared round the corner and left Jungkook suddenly more nervous than he had been before. If that was even possible.

  
  
  
  


“Jungkookie, come up here, we made a space for you.” Taehyung was leaning over the edge of the hay loft, a mezzanine level in the stable, where they stored the dry feed. There was a ladder nailed to the ledge and he made his way up slowly, trying hard not to drop the blankets. Taehyung reached down and grabbed the topmost, making it easier for him to get over the top. He crawled after Taehyung, to the furthermost corner, where Kai was sitting watching Soobin and Yeonjun throw hay at each other.

  
  


“It’s safe here, you won’t roll over the edge.” Taehyung said without a hint of irony and together they lay the blankets down. 

“Oh look Kai, Jungkookie brought your ‘ducky blanky’. Isn't that kind?” 

The toddler took the blanket from his father and rubbed his face on it.

“Ducky. Banky. Kookie.” he said solemnly. Tae smiled so brightly, Jungkook thought that dawn had come already.

“He said Kookie! He likes you!” Jungkook couldn’t help but smile as well.

“Does he pick up new words well?” He asked. Taehyung shook his head.

“I mean, I have no doubt that one day he’s going to recite whole sonnets, but for now, he’s mostly silent, aren't you bub?” 

“Except when he screams.”

Taehyung choked down a laugh,

“Yes, except then.”

  
  
  
  
  


They settled down, Jin got his boys to be quiet and they lay in a row along the hayloft, listening to the soft nickering of the horses below. The rain didn’t return, but there was a constant breeze, moving the trees back and forth. Jungkook tucked himself into his blanket tightly, and closed his eyes.

  
  


Jungkook realised he must have fallen asleep when he was woken by a solid weight on his chest. Opening his eyes with a start, he was faced with a close up view of Kai’s sippy cup as the baby held it for him to see. He was sitting on Jungkook and with a slight turn, Kookie realised that Taehyung was curled up against his side with an arm slung over his middle.

“Kookie. Cup.” the cup was gently but firmly bonked on his nose.

A thin watery light was coming in through the window, he guessed it must be about 5am. He sat up carefully, trying not to wake up Taehyung. He must be exhausted, having to sleep with a baby siren and then worrying about faceless creatures stealing his beloved horse.

He took the cup from Kai.

“Water?” he asked. Kai scowled.

“Cup.” he waggled his tiny angry eyebrows.

“Milk?” The eyebrows lifted.

“OK bud. But I don’t have any milk here, that's in the house. Shall I wake up your papa?”

The eyebrows frowned again and a tiny finger was pushed into Jungkook’s nose.

“Kookie. Cup. Cup.”

Resigned to his fate as chosen cup bearer, he got Kai to stand next to him while he gently lifted Taehyung’s arm so he could scoot out. Then he crawled over to where Jin had left the house keys next to the ladder.

He climbed onto the ladder, gave the cup back to the baby and then held his arms out.

“If it’s ok with you, you need to let me carry you, so we can get down the ladder and get your milk.” Jungkook waited patiently, not wanting to break whatever spell they were under and have the screaming begin again. He watched as Kai regarded him, his cup, looked behind at his sleeping father and then back at his cup.

“Kay” he said and stepped into Jungkook’s arms.

  
  
  
  
  


They were standing in front of the stove watching the milk warm gently in the pan when the back door opened and Taehyung walked in looking exhausted and frantic. As soon as he spotted the pair, surprise took over his face and he just stopped, holding onto the door in shock.

“Tete, Kookie, Cup.” Kai said in explanation. 

  
  


##  Interlude

Excerpt from Kim Family Records.

Foundlings: Foundlings are mostly thought to be human babies or children abandoned by their parents when they no longer want to or are able to care for them. Sometimes, however, they are not entirely human. Records tell us of fae, sirens and goblins becoming cuckoos in a human nest. Growing fat on the food and love of the people who find them, only to disappear without a trace, leaving death and devastation behind them.

Fae are the hardest to detect. They can look and behave exactly as a human child would, not giving an inkling of their seductive powers until too late.

Goblins rely on the natural desperate love of childless couples to overlook their ugly facade. They tend to overstay their welcomes and live well on into adulthood in the attics and cellars of their adoptive families.

Sirens entrance their finders. They form a bond that the adoptive family cannot escape and would die for. The only caregivers who can successfully raise sirens are other sirens.


	4. The Min School of Arts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where we meet Adora and things definitely get more confusing before they get clearer.  
> Also, Hoseok who is currently blaming the soju for the flying children.

#  Chapter 3

  
  


The Min School of Arts was an exclusive private school for children aged 3 to 18, having no more than 200 enrolled students at any one time. While the parents of the most talented and gifted young people had begged, competed, and paid through the nose, to have their little darlings enrolled, the school guaranteed complete free schooling for any child born and residing in the village boundary.

The school specialised in the arts, namely music, drama, fine art and photography as well as natural sciences, humanities and philosophy while covering the national curriculum. In the 15 years it had been open, it had established a world renowned reputation school and the most ambitious parents put their children on the waiting list before they were even born.

On Tuesday morning, Adora sat in her classroom waiting for her tutor group to arrive for morning registration. Adora had been with the school since its inception and early days when the only students were the local village kids and the two daughters of Yoongi’s old piano teacher. 

  
  


Adora and Yoongi had met in the middle of the spring term on a Thursday. They were both eight years old. Adora had just been sent to her fourth orphanage in her short lifetime and was starting yet another new school. She was scared, cold and wishing that one of the parents at the gate would pick her up one day and say that she could join their family.

She was led to her form room and shown to the only empty seat in the class. It was the right hand chair of a double desk, next to what she assumed was somebody’s abandoned overcoat. As she plopped down and scraped the chair closer to the table, the coat moved and she found herself being regarded quietly by two shiny black eyes. She was reminded momentarily of the cat that had belonged to her previous orphanage, the cat had been her only friend at that cold place. She gave an involuntary shiver and pulled her cardigan closer around her body. 

“Yoongi, this is Adora. She is new and you are her assigned buddy.” Their teacher said resting a hand gently on Adora’s shoulder. 

“Adora, this is Yoongi. He’s going to look after you until you find your way around, ok?” 

At first, Yoongi was silent and just let Adora follow him from classroom to cloakroom to hall to canteen. But at lunchtime, when he saw her pull out the meagre lunch that the orphanage had packed for her, he suddenly felt compelled to show this new person a smidgen of kindness. 

She had finished her small sandwich and apple and was holding onto a bottle of water that had the label peeled off and had obviously been reused many times. 

Yoongi looked at his lunch box filled with mini meatballs, baby tomatoes, cheese cubes, grapes, pitta fingers, a tub of hummus, homemade chocolate cookies and banana milk and decided he could sacrifice one of his cookies, 

He unfolded the paper napkin his mum had put in the box, placed the cookie on it and slid it across the table. Adora looked at him in surprise and down at the cookie.

“For you.” He said. And stuffed a whole meatball in his mouth so that he couldn’t possibly be forced to say anything else.

There was no decisive conversation or agreement of friendship, but from that day on, these two little souls became entwined. Yoongi’s parents became very fond of Adora and became approved by the Orphanage for visits and playdates. They always made sure she was well fed, and would include her in family outings and treats. They didn’t have the space or situation to formally adopt her as they were also caring for very sick elderly grandparents, but from that time on, Adora felt as if she had a family.

One time, when they were 11, Adora had found herself cornered by a bully, pulling her second hand coat and taunting her for having no parents as she tried desperately not to cry. Yoongi wasn’t there that day because he had chicken pox and it had been two weeks since she’d been allowed to see him. They had been the loneliest two weeks of her life so far. It wasn’t until Yoongi was missing, that she noticed how much he had filled all the empty spaces that she had lived with up until they’d met. 

The bully had got closer to her face and she could feel the spittle hit her face as he spat cruel truths at her. She’d closed her eyes, screwed up her fists and wished with everything inside her that Yoongi was there, that she was strong enough to push this idiot away, that she could make him SHUT UP! 

And then…

He had...

She’d opened one eye cautiously and saw the bully frozen in front of her, mouth open and eyes frantically darting about, scared. Adora opened her other eye, stood up straight and pushed the seemingly catatonic boy out of her way so she could walk away. 

That night, the care worker had knocked on her door to say there was a phone call for her. She was terrified that the boy had told on her and that she was in trouble. She made her way down the stairs nervously to the telephone table in the front hallway and lifted up the receiver. 

“Hello?”

“I’m coming back tomorrow.”

“Yoomfi?” The relief surged through her and he heard an exhalation as the breath she’d been holding rushed out.

“Did something happen today?”

“What? What do you know?”

“Today after lunch, while I was napping, I dreamed that you called for me. Did you get hurt?”

“No, just that idiot Yari tried to corner me. I think I wished you were there, just before I wished I could shut up his stupid face and then he just stopped so I ran away.”

“He stopped?”

“Yeah. I thought he was gonna hit me, but then I closed my eyes and wished and then he just stopped,”

“Weird.”

“Yeah.”

“Ok, See you tomorrow at the gate.”

“Kay. See you.”

Oh to be an eleven year old, accepting the strangeness in the world with a shrug and a ‘see you tomorrow’.

Adora almost forgot about that strange day in the coming years, as school and homework and arguing with Yoongi over which of them was the sidekick filled her early teens.

  
  


When they were 16, they met Jimin. Or rather, Jimin entered the classroom, Adora had smiled politely and then watched on in horrified amusement as her best friend /sidekick / brother from another mother of eight years, appeared to dissolve into a blushing mess with stars for eyes. 

At 16, she had been released from the care system, given a small government funded studio flat with an allowance until she left full time education and set free into the adult world. Yoongi had already established his mark on her territory, not in the traditional Tom Cat way thank goodness, but by basically hanging out there every day after college, spending many nights there and helping Adora decorate it with his vinyls, posters and random things he’d brought from his house. It was therefore not a huge surprise when he invited Jimin over to watch a movie.

“You know I don’t have a separate room to escape into, right? I’m not going to stand in my shower cubicle all night so you can kiss your boyfriend.”

“Adora. We come as a pair. If Jimin likes me, then he needs to like you too.”

“That’s really sweet, and I love you too Yoomfi, but I really don’t want to watch you two making out.”

A deal was made. Yoongi’s mum, being very on board for a girls’ night out, took Adora out for a shopping, spa, dinner and movie combo leaving Yoongi to his nefarious plans with her apartment. 

Absolutely overjoyed with her new found love of sitting in a comfy chair while skilled hands make her feet, hands and face sparkle like new born fairies, Adora was very tolerant of the appropriation of her home and would give the boys space often. 

By the time they were ready to start university, Yoongi and Jimin were a committed pair and both fiercely protective of Adora. They moved together to their university campus, sharing an apartment and basically living happily ever after.

When Yoongi started to solidify his dream of founding a school for the arts, there was no question that Jimin and Adora would follow.

  
  
  
  
  


So here she was, some time later, sipping a decent coffee (Yoongi didn’t allow substandard coffee in his establishment) waiting for her mixed year group of students. Her class had at least four students from each year group, the older ones encouraged to mentor and buddy up with the younger ones. 

The first to arrive were usually the paying boarders, aged 11 to 18 as they lived on site. The village children could enrol from age 4, but the paid spaces didn’t start until the high school grades.

The only village children who arrived early were Seokjin’s boys. Seokjin was the drama teacher. Flamboyant, hilarious and supernaturally handsome.

Adora waved her fingers at Yeonjun and Soobin as they piled into the room. They yelled “Good Morning Miss!” at her and were soon engrossed in whatever game they had running, ignoring her. 

Next to arrive were the twins. Unusually for students in general, but not unusually for these students in particular, they both ran up to her and gave her a hug and cheek kisses in greeting. They were as much her children as they were Yoongi’s and Jimin’s. 

Literally. 

The decision had not been taken lightly. Adora adored Yoongi and Jimin both. They were her found family. She had been with them over the years as they’d made their plans and talked about the things they dreamed of. Children was one of those dreams that they didn’t know how to achieve or imagine could come true. So one evening she’d suggested that she carry babies for them. She explained that her abandonment and life in children’s homes had made her terrified to ever have her own kids or risk being a bad parent. (Yoongi had argued this loudly, but she told him to shut up so she could finish.)

She told them that they were the best humans she knew and no child could ask for better parents and that she would be honoured to be the greenhouse to their seedling babies.

There had inevitably been much discussion and logistical planning, but ultimately it resulted in twins. A boy and a girl. 

She’d not held them at the birth, allowing Yoongi and Jimin to be the first to hold them. She’d expressed her milk for a few days, frozen it for them and then bound her breasts to stop the milk. She went to stay with Yoongi’s mother for three months. It was so very hard at first, her hormones and heart longed for the babies, but she allowed herself to be mothered, cared for and loved by the only mother figure she had ever known, until she was healed in body and mind.

One very difficult night, she’d clenched her fists and wished harder than she had for years. She visualised her contentment and asked for the longing to be replaced with peace and for her to be able to return to her family. There had been a hush as the wind had dropped suddenly, causing the gauzy curtains to float gently down to the floor. Adora had got out of bed to look out of the window, when after some interminably slow seconds, her phone had rung and Yoongi had said,

“Did you need me? I heard you call.”

He’d come to collect her the next day, she’d met her ‘niece and nephew’ properly and it had been ok. 

Sure they smelled like heaven and she could sit cuddling them when they were asleep for hours, but she found that it was ok to hand them back and feel smug when she went home to her clean quiet apartment. She didn’t regard them as her children, but as part of her family. Yoongi and Jimin were undoubtedly their parents and it was ok.

  
  
  


“Where is your dad?” She asked Leela, stroking a stray lock of hair from her face. 

“He’s talking to Mr Kim. They came again last night. Uncle Kookie saw them.”

“Is he ok?”

“Yes, I think so.” Leela went to join her brother in a pre registration perusal of their snack boxes and Adora slipped out of the classroom.

She found Yoongi and Seokjin in the office, let herself in and closed the door out of habit. Little ears heard everything. Especially their twins. 

“Is Jungkook ok?” she asked. “Leela told me he saw them.”

“He was shaken, but seemed to recover quickly. We are more in awe of his unexpected taming of the creature.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“The baby, The screamer, the beast who wakes all who dare disturb him.”

“It’s good to know that you aren't bothered at all by it Jin.” Adora grinned

“Not in the slightest. The little bugger keeps me on my toes. But the salient point is, my dear Adora, he has taken a shine to Jungkookie after a single meeting. The child let him touch him. He asked him to carry him. HE ASKED HIM FOR MILK.”

Adora laughed out loud and looked at Yoongi who was snorting into his coffee.

“Taehyung finally has a babysitter?” she laughed. Jin looked at Yoongi and back at her with a grin. 

“I fear it’s not only the baby that has been conquered.”

“No?”

“Let's put it like this. If he offers to babysit, Taehyung wouldn’t be leaving them to go anywhere.”

“Maybe between them, Tae could begin art classes again?” 

“Kookie still has to go to work at the council.” Yoongi grumbled.

“Employ him here! He’s a journalism graduate no? He could teach creative writing and between them they can tame the tiny beast and we can all go a whole day without having our eardrums blasted.”

“It feels like you have this all planned out already.” Yoongi gave her the same look he had when he'd met her aged 8.

“How can I have, Jinnie only just told us. It’s just serendipity Yoomfi. We’d be fools to look a gift Kookie in the mouth.” She replied innocently. Yoongi narrowed his eyes at her use of his childhood nickname in front of Jin, but said nothing.

  
  


The bell rang, signifying 15 minutes until the start of registration. The three refilled their respective coffees and went to round up their students.

  
  
  
  
  


When he was little, Jungkook hadn’t really got to know his cousins very well. Both his parents were the youngest siblings in their families, and hadn’t had Jungkook until they were both in their forties. As a result he was a good 10 years younger than his nearest aged cousin Yoongi, and almost 25 years younger than the oldest. He hadn’t been lonely per se, but once he said goodbye to the other students at the school gates, he was content to play in his room alone or make dens in the corner of his mother’s study as she worked. She was a columnist at a national paper and had nurtured his love for words and language from his babyhood.

He didn’t want to get a job at the biggest newspaper in the country just because of who his mother was, so he had applied for smaller publications all over the place after graduation. Not wanting to have to move back home or be bankrolled by his parents, he’d refused their offer to buy him an apartment and asked simply if they could help him find somewhere decent to rent. His mother had had her monthly phone call with her older sister and mentioned ‘Kookie’s adorable quest for independence’ and an hour later they’d arranged for him to rent the attic studio flat in Yoongi and Jimin’s house.

He’d arrived, bright eyed and innocent, with two suitcases and a couple of boxes. His introduction to living with noise was the twins thundering up and down the stairs at 6 am on his first morning and being greeted by a large ancient cat sitting on top of his freshly dry cleaned interview suit. 

“That’s Leonard. He’s as old as us.” Beomgyu had told him, shooing the cat out of the room after clocking the distressed look on his new cousin’s face.

“Don’t worry about the fluff, I’ll find you a sticky roller!” he had yelled and clomped back down the stairs without regard for the stability of the house or his own sleeping parents.

After that however, Jungkook had managed to keep his space mostly private and preferred a quiet first hour every morning, drinking coffee from his own little machine and leaving his cousin’s family to breakfast downstairs without him.

  
  
  


It was no surprise then, that breakfast with the Kims was a whole new experience. Seokjin seemed to be able to cook a banquet in a flash and Jungkook had barely registered the good morning greeting from the chef before a large mug of coffee and plate of toast, bacon and eggs had been placed in front of him.

Soobin and Yeonjun were wolfing down a pile of toast and eggs, while talking animatedly about their night visitors. Taehyung appeared as the kettle began to whistle, Kai on his hip and a handful of mail in the other hand. He tried to turn off the flame under the kettle with his elbow but it wouldn’t turn. Kai was waving his cup violently and almost out of Taehyung’s grip. Without much thought, Jungkook stood up and held his hands out to the baby who leaped into his arms saying ‘CUP CUP KOOKIE’ happily.

Jungkook was getting the milk from the fridge when he registered that the room had gone quiet. Turning round he was greeted by the smiling face of Taehyung and the astonished faces of the other three.

Soobin pointed.

“He. He’s. Not screaming.” he said in shock. His brother nodded, mouth open. Jin put his utensil down and leaned against the worktop. 

“Well…” he said calmly. “This is a new development.”

  
  
  
  
  
  


An hour or so later, Jungkook had found Mina pacing around her office, phone pressed to her ear. He sat down at the other side of her desk and got out his notes. 

Waiting for her to finish, he spread out his papers and got his thoughts together ready to update her.

“Sorry, that was the mainland office. I called to see if they’d had any sightings of the livestock, but they’ve had nothing come through undocumented. And they sent a warning. There is a massive storm coming and all the ferries will be grounded for at least three days. We are on our own.”

“Oh another storm?!” Jungkook didn’t know whether to be alarmed or not. It wasn't like their island was tiny, they must surely have enough food and water to last until the deliveries resumed. But he couldn’t help feeling a little uneasy about sharing the isolation with the faceless animal stealing, baby delivering, monsters from the forest… He shuddered and Mina patted his shoulder consolingly. 

“Don’t worry City Boy. We’ll survive. Now tell me what you found out yesterday.”

  
  
  
  


Half an hour later, he set off back out with an updated mission. To revisit the farms and ask some more questions about the missing animals, namely, what linked the animals that were taken and what was different about the ones remaining. 

  
  
  
  


Hoseok was enjoying island life. He’d seen the advertisement for a dance teacher at the Min School of Arts in the industry magazine that was a must for all the best jobs. He’d had odd jobs in gyms and dance studios since he graduated, but no ‘Proper Career Jobs’ as his mother called them. 

This job had been an answer to a prayer. He’d applied, had a preliminary interview over Zoom and booked his train and ferry to the island the week after. He arrived in the last week of the summer holidays meaning he had a few days to settle and find his feet before the new term started. 

Yoongi and Jimin had been very welcoming when he’d arrived. He had accommodation provided in the school building, his own suite of rooms with a small kitchen and bathroom, but meals were also provided if required. 

He quickly made friends with the Mins, Jimin in particular who drove him around the island sightseeing, insisted on feeding him at several family dinners and helped him decorate his rooms so he felt at home. 

By the time the new term started, Hoseok felt well settled and was excited to meet his new students. 

He loved the children. He loved their enthusiasm and the way they shed their inhibitions when they danced. The children who intrigued him the most were those from the village. Notably Mr Min’s twins and Mr Kim's two boys. 

Hoseok led a dance club after school, twice a week, that all four attended. What at first he assumed were tricks of the light or childish feats of exuberance soon became a firm suspicion that these children could actually fly.

  
  
  


The night that Jungkook found himself stranded in the Kim stables, Hoseok was sharing dinner and a bottle or two of Soju with Adora in the school kitchen, The cooks had finished for the day, leaving the teaching staff to fend for themselves if they wanted anything other than the school dinner provided at 6pm. 

“I saw Beomgyu fly today.” Hoseok leaned back in his chair and looked into the distance just beyond Adora’s left shoulder. She laughed out loud.

“You’ve only had two shots, are you drunk already?” He waved his hands in protest,

“No, not at all! Both the twins, I thought they were just really agile and light, but I swear to you, I swear.” he banged the table with his hand, “Beomgyu leapt from the bench and flew further across the room than I have even seen the greatest long jumper achieve.”

Adora poured him another shot and changed the subject. Not many people knew that she had carried the twins, only Jin, Taehyung and of course Yoongi’s parents. They didn’t want people to make assumptions and assign her the role of their mother or conversely, judge her for not raising them herself. She was amused by Hobi’s frequent rants about how the children seemed to defy the laws of science, but she wasn’t quite ready to reveal all their secrets yet.

  
  
  
  


The next day, when the whole school was gathered in the hall for lunch, Hoseok sat in his usual place at the teacher’s table, next to Adora and gave her a look.

“Everything ok Mr Jung?” she asked, innocently nibbling a slice of apple. He scowled at her.

“You let me drink on a school night.” he groaned, “I can’t even remember how I got in bed.”

Adora grinned. 

“You very obediently let me lead you back to your room and got in bed without complaint. I don’t know what you’d do without me!” she teased and bit into a tasty dumpling. 

There was a small commotion at the other end of the hall and they looked up to see Soobin and Beomgyu streak across from one side of the room to the other, their feet barely touching the ground… Oh.

“YOU SEE!” Hoseok gasped and pointed. Adora patted him gently on the shoulder and shoved the plate of dumplings at him as Seokjin stood up and shouted at the boys to

“SETTLE DOWN!”

  
  
  
  
  


Jungkook walked out of the third farm and up the dusty lane to where he could catch the bus back to the village. The atmosphere had become really heavy and humid and he pulled at his shirt collar in discomfort.

“Kookie!” came a squeal. He looked up and saw Taehyung leaning against his car, holding a very wiggly and excited baby Kai.

“Hey!” he said surprised and waved. “What are you doing here?”

“Mina said you’d got the bus out here and we thought you’d like a lift back before the storm hits.” Taehyung said, handing the baby over in return for Jungkook’s backpack. Jungkook blew a raspberry on Kai’s cheek and he shrieked in delight, causing both men to flinch.

“And I also want to hear if you found out anything more.” Taehyung winked. 

“I come bearing chilled cider and homemade cookies, if that will sway your decision?”

It totally swayed his decision.

On the way back to the village he told Taehyung about his findings in between gulps of cider and bites of cookie. 

“Like we thought, most of the individual animals were really old. The two flocks of sheep and the 9 cows, that turned out to be bullocks actually, were due for the slaughter house in the next week. The geese had stopped laying, Mrs Park was going to call the vet, she thought they had become infected with something.”

“Oh interesting” Taehyung tapped his fingers against his lips as he thought.

“Old, due for slaughter or sick. That forms a pattern of sorts.” Suddenly he flicked on his indicator and did a u-turn, away from Jungkook’s house and towards the woods. 

“I think I need to call the vet to look at Midnight.”

##  Interlude

_ From the Kim Family Records _

_ Collectors rarely take more than the donor can afford. Records show that when healthy animals or children have been taken, it has been discovered that the home life was unstable or dangerous shortly after. _

_ I suspect that foundling children are left after their mothers have died in childbirth. If the collectors take those who are in danger, sick or dying, then they cannot have use for a new life.  _

_ Kim Dalnim 1922 _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In true fashion, these characters are making serious plot decisions by themselves and I'm just trying to keep up.  
> I fully believe that all of this will make sense by the end.
> 
> Thank you for reading. <3


	5. And Then The Rains Came

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet a handsome groundskeeper with dimples and a penchant for trees.
> 
> Jimin goes driving in the rain and Yoongi has to entertain 300 children in the dark.

#  Chapter 4

The same morning that Jungkook woke up in a stable and Hoseok woke up with a hangover, Namjoon was woken up by the clatter of feet across the floor and then a hefty weight of a child landing on his chest.

“Papa wake up, it’s moooorning!” sang the little boy. He couldn’t help but open his eyes and pull him close for a hug. Whenever Taehyun sang he was unable to ignore it. He was such a happy little thing and his singing face was when he looked the most like his mother. 

He let the little boy imagine that he was pulling him out of bed and hand in hand they padded across the wooden floors to the other side of their cabin where the kitchen and therefore, coffee, lay.

Taehyun climbed up into his highchair because he was four, and quite capable of climbing furniture, small trees and fences when his Papa wasn’t looking thank you very much. 

Namjoon placed a cup of warm milk and a slice of buttered toast in front of him before pouring himself a very large black coffee and sitting at the table next to his son. He had the whole day free from his paid employment and was looking forward to some bonding time with his little boy.

“What shall we do today little Tae?”

Little Tae considered this while chewing his toast. 

“I fink, go see Big Tae an baby Kai.” he decided. Namjoon smiled and rubbed his soft fluffy hair.

“Well I do have that sapling they wanted. Will you help me dig a hole today?”

“Yeah!” little Tae agreed and held his hands out wide, “A massive hole Papa.”

  
  


Namjoon was the groundskeeper at the school and also a general lover of trees and plants. He lived with his son on the school grounds in a purpose built wood cabin, set back from the main building so they could enjoy some privacy and separation from the hubbub of school life. 

He hadn’t planned this life. He imagined that 18 year old him would have freaked out at the idea of being a father and having a full time, live-in job. He had planned to save the planet and do great things back then, but one phone call had changed everything.

His older sister Yeseul, had estranged herself from their family when he was just 16. She had fallen out with their parents and leaving them meant she’d had to leave him too. 

Over the years he had text messages on birthdays and holidays, and she always let him know if she changed her number, but never let on where she was or what she was doing.

By the time he was in university, he had reconciled himself to not knowing, and was trying his best to keep peace with his very conservative parents while pursuing his personal dreams of environmental politics. 

He remembered the day his phone had rung. He was in the library, studying for his final exam and the sudden vibration against the table had made him jump. He picked it up and rushed out of the main room into a side corridor immediately. She never called, only ever text, so this must be important.

  
  


“Hello? Yeseul?”

“Joonie? Can you come quickly? I need you. I’m so sorry.” there was a sob and some background noise and then another voice came over the phone.

“Is this Kim Namjoon?” 

“Yes, I am. Who are you”

“I am Dr Choi. Emergency clinician at City Hospital. Your sister listed you as her next of kin.”

“What is happening? Is she ok?”

“Mr Kim, how quickly can you get here? Your sister has been in an accident and her condition is critical. We are about to take her into emergency surgery to deliver the baby. It's a few weeks before her due date, but it should be ok, the heartbeat is strong.”

  
  


Namjoon nearly dropped the phone.

“Baby?”

“Your sister is 8 months pregnant. She was in a road traffic accident and by the time we got her into the emergency ward, she was showing early signs of labour as well as losing blood.”

“I didn’t know.” he whispered, voice breaking.

“Namjoon. I realise this is a lot to take in suddenly.” the doctor said kindly. “But you need to know that time is of the essence. Please come as quickly as you can, before it's too late.”

  
  
  
  
  
  


He’d got a taxi and made it to the hospital in 45 minutes. A nurse had led him to the waiting area and told him she would find the doctor. He didn’t understand at the time, they’d said to hurry and now he had to wait?

Yeseul was having a baby? Yeseul was hurt. It was all too much. He’d dropped his face into his hands and sobbed as the fear overwhelmed him.

  
  


Minutes or maybe hours later, Namjoon didn’t know, a hand gripped his shoulder gently and he looked up to see a young man in a white coat looking down at him with a serious face.

“Kim Namjoon?”

He nodded.

“I’m so sorry to tell you, but your sister passed away 15 minutes ago.”

He waited for a moment, taking a seat next to the stunned man, squeezing his shoulder gently and letting the dreadful news sink in. After a couple of minutes, letting the desolated man in front of him steady his breathing before hitting him with more surprises, he said, 

“She named you as her next of kin and guardian to her baby. He’s healthy and strong, just a little small because he was early. Would you like to come and meet him?”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Looking back, those moments and following days were all a blur. He remembers the baby being put into his arms and not much else. He must have signed release forms and accepted the guardianship, because the next thing he remembers clearly was taking his new son home. 

There was no question of going back to his parents. They made it very clear that they wanted nothing to do with their daughter’s illegitimate child and if Namjoon wasn’t going to hand it over to the social services, then he was on his own. 

_ He rubbed his hand over little Tae’s head, leant down and kissed him. _

_ “It.” he growled under his breath. How dare they. _

So he’d muddled through the last month of university, managed to sit his exam while his baby slept in the carrier strapped to his chest, and then walked into the job centre and asked them what was available.

  
  


There had been this odd little advert for a school groundskeeper that came with accommodation. It was far away from this city and all the sad memories that he saw on every corner. He had applied, done a very unconventional interview over a video call and held the sleeping baby up to the camera when requested by the husband of the interviewer, who had popped up behind him and waved hello.

  
  


That was four years ago. He’d been lost in the very place he grew up and then was found on this little island that seemed to be populated by wise old women and handsome young men. He couldn't deny that having Little Tae and bringing him here, was the best thing that ever happened to him. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


“Come on fella, let’s go dig a hole.”

“A massive one!” came the cry as Little Tae ran out to find his wellies.

  
  
  
  
  


Namjoon was loading the sapling of the plum tree into the back of the school truck when the drama teacher sauntered across the field to say hello.

“Did you pass your test and not tell me Namjoonie?”

Namjoon grinned and shook his head.

“Never fear Mr Kim, even if I had the inkling to take my test, no examiner in the country would give me my license.”

“I find it very peculiar that after four years, you still insist on calling me Mr Kim.” Jin said with a raised eyebrow. Namjoon gestured to the school building behind Jin with a smile.

“When around students, you are always Mr Kim.”

“Then I should see more of you outside of the school grounds.” Jin winked at him, delighting in the blush that rose on the groundskeeper's face.

“Is that my plum tree?”

“Yes, Jimin offered to drive us as he wanted to see Taehyung anyway.”

“That’s a shame.” Jin gave a small sigh, almost undetectable. “I could have driven.”

“Don’t you have classes?”

“I do. Responsibility is so inconvenient to my social life.” He looked at his watch, balked at the time and made the sort of rash decision that can affect your life forever.

“Stay at the house, wait for me to come home and I will drive you both home after dinner.”

He practically sprinted away back to the school building before hearing Namjoon’s reply, so he didn’t see the stammering blushing mess he left behind him.

  
  
  
  
  


They were well into the autumn term and Seokjin had the Winter Production on his mind. Well at least the part of his mind that wasn’t preoccupied with the hunk of a groundskeeper. He really was living his own D.H. Lawrence novel. He’d contemplated doing a musical version of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, but Yoongi had given him a hard NO. Such a heathen.

As he sprinted back to his classroom, he heard singing coming from one of the music rooms and skidded to a halt. No matter how many times he heard Adora sing, he could never get over it. Her tone and pitch were perfect. Her voice gave him goosebumps and he had seen her move people to tears when she sang at the concert for parents and trustees last year.

Whatever production he chose, he was determined to get Adora on stage this year. She always tried to refuse, saying that the students should be the stars, and as a teacher, Seokjin agreed, but as a lover of music and art and the human experience, he needed Adora to sing.

  
  


By mid afternoon, the rain had started and Jin’s class read through of Midsummer Night’s Dream was rudely interrupted by a branch flying into the window and shattering the glass across the floor. 

Yeonjun had been reading as Puck and flew out of his seat, taking his desk mate, Tia, with him, just before their table and seats were covered in shards of glass. Tia got up and rushed to the far wall in tears. 

“Are you hurt?” Jin called as he herded the panicked children away from the windows and out into the hallway which was lit by tough perspex skylights, so safe for now. She shook her head, so he left her in the arms of her friends and ran back to his son who was still on the floor surrounded by glass. 

“Are you ok?” he asked worriedly, trying to brush the stray shards off Yeonjun’s trouser legs and back. “You knew it was going to happen didn't you? If you hadn’t gone when you did, both of you would have been seriously hurt.” 

Jin pulled him close and kissed his head gently, hissing in pain as a tiny shard cut his lip. 

“I felt the air change. It was like when Kai screams but different.” 

Jin laughed a half choked sob. 

“Well that clears it up. Well done my hero barometer. Let's get you cleaned up.”

They headed out to the hall and at Jin’s command the whole class made their way to the main school hall. Jin sent one of his trustworthy students to go to find the school nurse and another to find Mr Min.

Yoongi made an announcement over the school tannoy telling everyone to calmly make their way to the main hall. As he walked through the school checking all the rooms for stray students, the power went out.

He could hear the dramatic shrieks from a corridor away from the hall. He rolled his eyes and changed direction to go to the caretaker’s cupboard to retrieve some storm lanterns. 

He realised with a muffled curse that today was Namjoon’’s day off. Never mind, the man worked hard enough and the emergency supplies were well stocked and accessible. Yoongi just hoped he was safe. 

“Damnit!” he realised. Jimin had said he was driving him to the Kim house. He hoped rather than trusted that Jimin would stay put at his friend’s house and not try to drive back to them in this weather. 

Heaven help anyone who tried to keep Jimin from his babies. Looping three lanterns on each arm and stuffing his back pocket with a box of matches, Yoongi hurried back to his office, hoping that the phones were still working.

Adora was in his office rummaging through the cupboard under the window. She emerged as he walked in, holding a torch in each hand. 

“I stashed these after the last power cut.” she gave in explanation, although Yoongi would never have asked for one. 

“Where are the twins?” he asked. 

“They were in maths class, I saw Miss Kang leading them to the hall on my way here.

“I bet they are overjoyed then.” he grinned, knowing how little their children took after Jimin in mathematical appreciation.

He picked up the phone and hit the speed dial for Jimin’s mobile. It picked up after two rings. 

“Babe?” came the crackled greeting. Yoongi could hear the switch of rapid windscreen wipers as they battled the pelting rain.

“Why are you driving in this weather you maniac?” he growled. 

“Hi Yoongi, I’m fine thanks, I love you too, Yeah my day is going great thanks.”

“Jimin..”

“I am nearly home I promise!” Jimin yelled, over the noise of the storm, “I’ll be f….” The line went dead. Yoongi hit redial, he just silence.

“Phones are down.” he told Adora, “Jimin is driving in this. If he doesn’t get back safe I’ll.”

She placed a soothing hand on his arm. 

“He’s sensible, you know he drives more like a grandma than the rest of us. Trust him to be careful. Come on, you have 300 children to keep calm in the dark.”

“Fantastic.” he said more dryly than he felt. The last three days had been testing his nerves and the last thing he needed was looking after hundreds of hysterical children who were perfectly fine and safe when his husband was driving through muddy lanes in zero visibility.

  
“Yoomfi.” Adora almost sang his pet name as she pressed her fingers into the back of his neck. “Come, all will be well.” He felt a calm wash over him, as it often did when she was with him and he followed her back out to the main hall.

  
  
  
  


Jimin had passed his driving test when the twins were about to start school. Before then, they’d managed with Yoongi or Adora driving them places, or walking with the double pushchair if he was alone with them. He was a competent driver, passing his theory test with full marks and always making sure to set his mirrors and adjust his seat before he set off. Generally, Jimin avoided driving in the rain as a rule. It wasn’t fun and he would much rather be in his house, cosy and wrapped up in a blanket with one or all three of his babies. (Yes Yoongi was one of those babies.) 

He drove Namjoon and Little Tae in the school truck just after 8.30 am and spent a couple of hours with Taehyung as he told him all about the previous night’s adventure in the stables. 

He couldn’t believe that Kai had decided to latch onto Yoongi’s doe eyed cousin, of all people. 

“He was terrified when he met the twins!” Jimin said in indignation, not a little jealous that his best friend’s son had chosen the newcomer over him, an experienced father and all round fun uncle.

“He hadn’t even held a child before he came here.”

Taehyung had pondered this.

“Maybe that’s why. Maybe Kai is wary of people who think they know better than him, but Jungkookie is perfectly pliable to his every whim.”

Kai smacked his highchair tray with his spoon and screeched in agreement.

“Kookie Cup!”

“I can’t believe it. Can you say Mini? Uncle Mini?” 

Kai smiled a toothy smile at his father’s pouting friend.

“Kookie.” he said once and then started banging the tray.

Taehyung laughed his head off, even when Jimin smacked him on the shoulder whining about how unfair it was.

  
  
  
  


He’d left them after a quick lunch as Namjoon had told them he might take a whole day to do the garden, and Jin had offered to drive him later.

Jimin and Tae had waggled their eyebrows at each other, but took enough pity on the blushing man to not tease him openly.

Taehyung on the other hand had no shyness about announcing he was going to drive and find Jungkook with a picnic, ostensibly to find out more about the missing livestock, but they both knew it was really just so Taehyung could pash over him for the rest of the afternoon.

“Just don’t break him, Yoongi would kill us both.” Jimin had kissed his friend on the cheek and attempted to kiss Kai, but had been glared at.

“Your baby is terrifying.” he grumbled and got back into the truck. His plan was to take it back to the school, walk home and then spend the rest of the afternoon reading his new book in peace before the hoards arrived. 

He was on the lane that led from the Kim land to the main road when he remembered they had no mushrooms and Yoongi had promised to make doenjangguk for dinner. He turned right, instead of left at the junction and headed to Mrs Choi’s farm shop.

Mrs Choi had urged him to hurry home as he bagged up his mushrooms and all the other produce that had caught his eye. 

He had thanked the tiny old lady for her concern, promised to bring the children at the weekend and headed out finally 45 minutes after he’d entered.

The thing with living on this island was that the roads were terrible. They were basically dirt tracks that had never had the benefit of a Roman Invasion to make them straight or sturdy. He was sure their ancestors were happy about the lack of colonisation, but right now, as the rain began to fall steadily, he could have really done with a wide, straight road.

“Bloody hell.” he muttered to himself as he turned the wipers to full speed and slowed to a crawl. There was a part of the road where it was crossed by a stream. Usually it was no deeper than a puddle, but as he approached, he could see the water was much higher than usual and flowing fast. He remembered the instructions from his test; drive slowly and then test your brakes after.

He was about to drive across when his phone rang. It was hooked up to the bluetooth, so he answered straight away.

“Babe?” he said, seeing Yoongi’s name flash up on the display.

“Why are you driving in this weather you maniac?” his husband growled. It was a really bad connection.

“Hi Yoongi, I’m fine thanks, I love you too, Yeah my day is going great thanks.”

“Jimin..”

“I am nearly home I promise!” Jimin yelled, over the noise of the storm, “I’ll be fine! I’m just crossing the weir. He realised that the line had gone dead. He pushed the button to redial but the display just blinked at him.

“Oh bloody hell,” he sighed and drove slower than a tortoise in a race with a hare.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Namjoon gave up trying to dig the hole for the tree about 20 minutes after the storm started. Little Tae had already retreated to the kitchen and was watching from his perch at the window with the juice that Big Tae had left for him.

Taehyung had told Namjoon to make himself at home, so he put the kettle on and grabbed a towel from the airing cupboard to dry his hair.

Taehyung had said he was going to meet Yoongi’s cousin. He hoped they were ok. Namjoon made himself some tea and then settled with Little Tae in the living room and a story book from the shelf. 

When the power went out, Little Tae had whimpered a little in fear. Namjoon didn’t want to go rummaging in his friend’s cupboards for candles, so he gathered his son up into his arms, covered them in a blanket and urged him to close his eyes while he told him a story. He couldn’t see well enough to read the book anymore, so instead, he told the little boy about his mama and adventures Namjoon could remember from his short time with his sister.

He told him of the time Yeseul had built them a den in the park behind their street. They’d hidden out there one afternoon after Namjoon had accidentally broken a vase. His mother had shouted until he cried and promised to tell his father to punish him when he got home from work.

Yeseul had sneaked him out of the house and they’d run all the way, Namjoon panting through his tears. Yeseul had stayed with him until it got dark and then when they’d finally gone home, she had stood in front of him and taken the beating that had been meant for her little brother. 

Namjoon didn’t tell Little Tae about the punishments, but he told him about how brave and strong and clever his mother had been. He painted a picture of a brave warrior princess, who slayed dragons and saved sad lonely boys from their cold prisons.

He couldn’t bring Yeseul back, but he was determined never to let her memory die for her son.

  
  
  
  
  


Little Tae had fallen asleep and Namjoon was dozing when he heard the front door open and Taehyung called to sound his arrival. He ran into the room holding a soggy toddler, closely followed by a man that Namjoon hadn’t met before, but he assumed to be Yoongi’s cousin.

“Did you make yourself at home? Are you ok?” Taehyung panted out, while dripping on the floor. Namjoon laughed gently, so as not to wake his armful of sleeping boy.

“I should be asking you that. We are fine, thank you. Can I help you?”

Taehyung said no and insisted he stay where he was and led Jungkook through to where they could change into dry clothes. Namjoon decided he could definitely fit in another 15 minutes nap.

  
  
  
  
  
  


After showing Jungkook where he could find some dry clothes, Taehyung carried Kai into their bathroom, stripped them and had a quick warm shower to warm them both up. Babies are particularly slippery when wet, so there was much giggling and squeaking as he tried to wash them both and not drop anything.

They emerged pink and warm, Kai in a duckie onesie and Taehyung just in a towel around his waist. He fortuitously met Jungkook in the hallway outside their rooms and asked if he could hand over the little one while he himself got dressed. He tactfully chose not to comment on the extreme blushing displayed when Jungkook had clapped eyes on him, but couldn’t help the broad smile that lit up his face.

  
  
  
  


Taehyung tried to call the school once he was sensibly clad in warm clothes, but the lines, as feared, were dead. It was almost the end of the school day, but he guessed that Jin wouldn’t be venturing home with the boys in the storm.

“Well!” he announced cheerfully as he walked into the living room holding a lantern. “Looks like we are a party of five until this storm passes.”

  
  


The beauty of having an oil powered range cooker is that powercuts don’t affect you. They had heating, hot water and were able to cook, even if they were doing it by candle light.

Kai fell asleep in Jungkook’s arms much to Namjoon’s astonishment. The child’s reputation was well known across the island. Taehyung made them all hot chocolate and they sat huddled on the sofa listening to the rain beat against the windows.

“Are your horses ok in this?” Jungkook asked. He had no idea really, but he thought if he were a horse, he wouldn’t want to be out in the storm.

“They should be fine in the stable.” Taehyung answered. “But I should just go check on them. Are you ok here with Kai?” 

Jungkook looked at the little boy conked out in his arms. He was drooling a bit.

“I think I’ll manage.” he grinned.

  
  
  


Taehyung pulled on his waterproof coat and wellies and made his way out to the stables. He wasn’t going to be able to call the vet to look at Midnight until the phone lines came back. She wasn’t old enough to pass away from age like Flossie had been. So he could only guess that she was unwell and that was why the collectors had come for her. If they came again tonight, he wasn’t sure if he could stop them without Jin and the boys.

The horses were all a little jittery, not liking the way the wind and rain was battering their stable. Taehyung ran his hands up the black mare’s neck and pressed his face into her cheek. 

“What’s up girl, are you sick?” he whispered in soothing tones, stroking her and leading her from her stall. “I’m not ready to lose you yet.”

Being the compassionate man he was, his next decision should have been no surprise and if and when Jin found out, well, then he would deal with it later.

“Come on girl, you are spending the night in the kitchen.”

  
  
  


##  Interlude

_ Excerpt from Kim Family Records _

_ Collectors have only been recorded to come out at night. They are not known to be able to get past locked doors or windows. On occasions where children have gone missing, evidence shows that they let themselves out. Missing babies are an anomaly. I suspect they bewitch older ones to bring the children out. _

_ Kim Dalnim 1923 _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so it begins...
> 
> Will Yoongi and Adora manage to keep the students safe?  
> Will Jimin get home safe?  
> Will Taehyung get murdered for bringing a horse into Jin's kitchen??
> 
> Tune in next week to find out.


	6. A Glow in the Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So it's still raining, there's now power or phone service and there's a horse in the utility room.
> 
> Jungkook is way calmer than he would be if he actually read this scenario on paper and considered the logistics.
> 
> Namjoon wonders if he is in fact, the last person on this island to know what on earth is happening, but he forgot about Hoseok, who is blissfully asleep for the duration of this chapter.

#  Chapter 5

As a child, Adora had often dreamed of who her parents might be. A captured princess, or a wild explorer who she’d been stolen from in the dead of night. But the older she got, the closer she got to Yoongi and his family and the less she wanted to find out. Instead came the fear that a stranger would come and take her away from this new version of family that she’d found when she was 8.

When she turned 18, she was given her file. It was sealed in a large manila envelope with her name printed on the front. She’d carried it home under her coat to protect it from the rain and then, when she’d let herself and Yoongi into her little studio apartment, she’d slid it onto the highest shelf of the built-in closet and shut the door.

She didn’t want to know. She didn’t want to find out that her parents had abandoned her like an unwanted sandwich any more than she thought she could deal with finding out if she had been the reason for her mother’s death in childbirth. For now, she had Yoongi and his parents and it was more family than she ever thought she would have.

When they had been attending the prenatal appointments, the doctor had asked if she had any family history of a whole list of diseases. She had told them she didn’t know. It had made Yoongi think of the file though, and on their way back home, he’d ask her if they should check it, just to be safe for the babies. 

He said it very kindly, asking her in such a way that she didn’t feel pressured, but for the first time she contemplated opening the file. Not for herself, but for the babies. In the end she decided that being newly pregnant with her best friend’s babies was not the time to find out her tragic origins story, so she gave the file to Jimin and asked him to look for any information that would be relevant for the obstetrician. She had decided, however, that he should not let her or Yoongi know what he discovered.

It was difficult. Jimin and Yoongi were married and didn’t keep secrets from each other, but they agreed. It wasn’t Jimin’s secret that he was keeping, it was Adora’s, and their priority now and for the next twenty years at least, was the family they were having together.

  
  
  
  


Jimin still had the file, in a locked suitcase in the back of his wardrobe. Yoongi knew where it was, but he had never asked to see it. His loyalty to Adora was unwavering. 

In the early days of their relationship, Jimin had been jealous of the closeness they had. He couldn’t understand how they could be practically inseparable and have no inkling of attraction between them. 

It had come to a head after a couple of months dating, when he’d arrived at Adora’s apartment to find her asleep on her bed with Yoongi curled around her reading a book. Jimin had burst into tears and stormed out, closely followed by a very confused and barefooted Yoongi.

Jimin had accused him of cheating, through his snot and tears and Yoongi had laughed in disbelief, at which Jimin had smacked him on the shoulder and Yoongi had pulled him into a hug. It was all very dramatic for the front porch of a residential building.

Back inside the apartment with the door closed, a now awake Adora had looked in dismay at the crying Jimin and then in ever increasing horror as Yoongi explained.

“I think I’m gonna throw up in my mouth a little bit.” she’d said. Yoongi thanked her dryly and turned back to Jimin.

“She’s my sister in all but genetics. Being with her romantically (insert gagging noises from behind) would be like asking if you want to kiss your brother.` He pulled Jimin into another firm hug and kissed his head. “Do you want to kiss your brother?”

The whine and wriggle had confirmed that no, Jimin did not in fact want to have romantic relations with any of his siblings, thank you. They all sat down, ordered some chicken and spent the rest of the night in a cuddle pile, Jimin firmly in the middle.

Adora had let him have a spare key after that and made sure that if she ever made plans with either of the boys it was in their three way chat so everyone knew where everyone was and who with. She didn’t mind, she’d never had this many people care about her before. And so Jimin had become her family.

  
  
  
  
  
  


As he drove in the pouring rain back home, Jimin thought back to the file in the back of his wardrobe. At the time he’d read it first, he was just looking for any of the medical information that the doctor had asked for. He had tried really hard not to take too much else in, as the less he remembered, the less he would have to keep from Adora and Yoongi. 

But occasionally, flashes of memory would come and now as the rain sheeted across the windows he recalled a passage from the file.

_ “The infant was recovered from the wreckage of a boat by fishermen. A storm had forced them to come outside of their usual route, where they discovered the wreck. No other people were found and the crew was presumed drowned. The infant was found floating in a life ring, still attached to a piece of the boat sidings. Incredibly, the infant showed no signs of hypothermia or distress.  _

_ Attempts to discover the owners of the lost vessel and possible parentage of the infant were abandoned after six months.”  _

“What kind of storm could rip a boat to pieces but leave a tiny baby safe?” he mused to himself. “It’s a miracle she’s alive.” then as he maneuvered the truck through a deep puddle that was almost a pond, “I’ve never seen her swim. I wonder if she’s subconsciously traumatised?”

Finally, after two hours of driving more slowly than a snail on a leisurely stroll, he arrived home. The storm showed no signs of letting up and by the time he staggered with his bags from the truck to his front door, he was soaked through.

The power was out, so Jimin made his way to the kitchen and found the stash of candles and matches they kept in the pantry. He set the lighted candles into the storm lanterns and made his way upstairs.

There was a little hot water left in the tank from the morning, so he had a quick shower and dressed in his soft warm onesie. 

He guessed at this point, no one else was coming home any time soon, so he gathered some snacks, got the suitcase out of his wardrobe and sat in bed.

By candle light, he opened Adora’s file and searched through for the oldest papers. Something was niggling at his brain and he needed to find out what it was.

He found the statement by the fisherman and read it through. 

“ _ We had been forced closer to the mainland by the storm. We had to abandon our nets and head out to sea before we could turn back. I spotted some flotsam and called out to my mate to avoid it, in case it got caught in our propeller. When we realised it was a wreck, we searched for survivors. We would have missed the baby if she hadn’t cried. We brought her back to the Island first, but the council said we had to call you because the boat had been in your waters.” _

Jimin gasped. He leaped out of bed and ran in the dark to their study. Then cursing at himself as he couldn’t see anything, ran back to the bedroom, carefully carried a lantern back and jumped on a stool to reach an old book from the top shelf.

It had belonged to his grandmother and contained her notes from all the council meetings she had attended. Jimin’s mother had left for university on the mainland when she was 18 and never moved back to the Island. She had met Jimin’s father, married and stayed in the city where he and his brother were born. 

As both their parents were working full time, Jimin and his brother would spend every school holiday on the Island with their grandmother. He loved her tall ramshackle house that seemed to go back for miles and as high as the sky. He was aware that she was one of the Village council women, but didn’t really have any concept of what that meant. He just knew that he and his brother had spent countless happy days playing inside and out, without a care in the world. 

When she had passed away, Jimin was devastated. The whole family as well as Yoongi and Adora had come over to the island for the funeral and he was astonished to find out that she had left him her house in her will.

It seemed like fate. The house that he had been so happy in as a child. His own twins were due to be born in five months. Their Academy of Arts had grown so successful, they needed to relocate to a bigger building and the village itself had lost their only school teacher and were trying to avoid sending their burgeoning village population over to the mainland for their education if they could avoid it. The village council knew Jimin and had heard much of his little growing family from their dearly departed fellow councilwoman. They came up with a plan. They agreed to donate the schoolhouse to the Mins and help them expand it to accommodate all the village children as well as the paying boarders who were enrolled. 

And so over the summer, the Min family including Adora had moved to the island and the school had been opened.

While Adora was recovering on the mainland with Yoongi’s parents, they had built her a self-contained flat in the main school building. It had more accommodation than that provided for the other live in teachers, but she was special. It meant that she could have a place of her own, but be near enough.

  
  
  
  


This flashback rushed through Jimin’s head in seconds as he climbed back upstairs carefully with the ancient book under his arm and holding the lantern steady.

Back on the bed and under the covers, he spread the book out on his lap and turned the pages to where a folded map bookmarked an entry from 33 years ago.

_ “The fishing boats all returned safely. They had to go into different waters to stay safe. They found a baby. We couldn’t believe it! The boat was wrecked, the lines tangled and somehow the little one managed to float safely in a ring until they found her. She is very small, I think no more than a few days old. It is a miracle she is alive. I thought Juno should keep her, but she has an agreement with the mainland. We will respect their borders and they respect ours. The baby has to go back. Juno is devastated. She hid it well, but I can see the sadness in her eyes.” _

Jimin spread out the map on his lap. It was of the Island and surrounding waters and the western coast of the mainland. There was the usual grid and faint lines marking out the borders of the village, the dozen or so farms and the island waters.

There on the bottom right hand corner of the map was a pencil drawn cross in the middle of the sea.

His grandmother had written in tiny letters on the edge of the map. “The wreck”

Between the next page of the book was a letter. It was from the city Child Services Department and addressed to the village council.

_ “Dear Councilwoman _

_ We thank you for your kind interest in Baby A. We can confirm that she has been placed in a suitable facility and is healthy.  _

_ We appreciate your kind offer to adopt her into the village, but we feel that this is a mainland issue and do not wish to cause more disruption for the child. _

_ We shall of course place copies of your correspondence in her file so, when she reaches adulthood, she can return to the Island if she chooses.” _

“Oh my god!” Jimin croaked and grabbed Adora’s file again. He sifted through all the medical check ups, school reports and welfare letters until he found a sheet of headed notepaper written in a familiar hand.

_ “Dear sir or Madam, _

_ I am writing on behalf of the Pinan Village council to inquire about the welfare of a child who was found by our fishermen on the 30th September this year.” _

Jimin’s grandmother had written to try and adopt the baby.

The baby was Adora. BABY A WAS ADORA

“OH. MY. GOD.” Jimin said to the ceiling. “Of course the bloody phones are out and there’s a bloody storm and a bloody powercut so I can’t tell anyone my AMAZING DISCOVERY.”

He skipped back down the stairs in an adrenaline hyped excitement and opened one of Yoongi’s bottles of good red wine. He deserved it.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Taehyung showed Namjoon and Little Tae to Seokjin’s room. 

“He would rather you had his room than anyone else,” Taehyung had said cryptically and left them to get towels and a change of clothes for them both.

Namjoon wasn’t sure what to make of that statement, but as he ran his fingers over Seokjin's soft pillows and took a secret sniff of that familiar vanilla scent, he decided he didn’t mind one bit.

Jungkook was playing with Kai on the rug while Taehyung went to check all the doors and windows and lay copious amounts of hay on the floor in the little side utility where Midnight would be spending the night. 

“This is a bit smaller than your stable, but I need you to be safe and warm, ok girl?” He kissed her on the neck and made sure her reins were firmly attached to the hook on the wall.

“I’m sleeping down here to keep watch tonight,” he said as he walked back into the living room. Kai was now sitting on Jungkook's lap leafing through a picture book.

“I am worried that there’s something wrong with her and there’s no way to get the vet out here until tomorrow. If our theory is right, then until we can get her fit and well, they will keep coming for her.”

Jungkook looked up at him and frowned. 

“Does she seem ill? I mean, she looks great to me, but I never saw a horse in real life before I came here.”

“I haven’t seen anything obvious, but I’m going to ask the Vet to do blood tests and a complete physical.” Taehyung breathed in deeply, holding back the distress that was threatening to break out.

“I haven’t been riding her so much since I found Kai. I’ve neglected her.” he put his face in his hands.

Jungkook got up, sat the baby down on the sofa and walked over, putting his arms around Taehyung and pulling him into a hug. 

“I can tell by the way you care for her, that you haven’t. She knows you love her. We will sort this out, I promise.”

“We?”

Jungkook pulled back and looked Taehyung in the eye.

“Yeah. I’m not leaving you in the lurch. Besides, your kid is my new best friend.” 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Seokjin lay in the bed that had been made up for him in one of the spare teacher rooms. Yeonjun and Soobin had elected to sleep with Beomgyu and their other friends in the dormitories, so he had no one to talk to and nothing to do. He stared at the shadows of the lantern flickering on the ceiling in time to the rain drumming a relentless beat on the windows.

He wondered if they would come again tonight. He didn’t recall the collectors coming night after night in succession, but then most people didn’t stand up to them until they left. 

He hoped that Taehyung and Namjoon were safe inside the house. Then he hoped that if they did come again, the collectors wouldn't freak Namjoon or his cute little son out too much. 

And then just before he drifted into sleep, Seokjin very much hoped that the next time the groundskeeper and his son visited his house, he’d actually be able to be there with them.

  
  
  
  


To nobody’s enormous surprise, the student dormitories were a buzz of whispers and activity until the early hours of the morning. The addition of about ten day students who hadn’t been able to go home, had transformed the usually orderly bedroom routine into a sleepover atmosphere. 

Yoongi had told the dormitory prefects to let the children off the strict bedtime routine for the night as they hoped the excitement would offset the nervousness that some of the children were feeling since the storm had started. 

Leela went to stay with Adora in her room and Yoongi ended up squeezing in as well. 

“This bed's not big enough for three people.” Adora had huffed as she tried to get some of her quilt while removing Leela’s elbow from her ribs. Yoongi, however, was already asleep.

  
  
  
  
  
  


At about 2am, everything stopped. Adora and Leela both sat up with a start. 

“They have come.” Leela whispered, reaching out for Adora’s hand. Yoongi was fast asleep and they silently agreed to leave him that way.

  
  
  


They met Seokjin and the three boys on the stairs down to the main hall. Leela rushed to Beomgyu and they put their heads together for a moment, eyes shut, as if communicating silently.

Seokjin's boys were rigid with their alertness, Adora could almost see the crackle of agitation coming off their skin, as it cast a pulsing glow into the darkness.

“We need to go home.” Yeonjun hissed. “Uncle cannot defeat them alone.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


It was at 2am that Kai stood up on Jungkook’s stomach and screamed. 

It was a few seconds after 2am that Jungkook realised that he had fallen asleep on the sofa with Taehyung curled into his side and the baby on his lap. 

He sat up with a start and grabbed the baby just before he toppled off his lap. Taehyung was clambering up to get to the kitchen before his eyes had even opened. Jungkook could hear Midnight whinnying in distress, her hooves rattling against the stone floor. 

Jungkook picked up Kai and followed Taehyung into the kitchen. He grabbed the sippy cup of water that they’d left on the side and offered it to the little boy. He grabbed it and sucked greedily, whimpering into the rubber lip.

Jungkook held him close, crooning a nursery rhyme that he remembered his grandmother singing to him, and rubbed soothing circles into his back.

He was weighing up whether to follow Taehyung into the small utility room where he was trying to calm the horse, or take Kai somewhere quiet, when Namjoon clattered into the kitchen behind him. 

“What’s happening?” He looked alarmed. Jungkook spied little Tae hiding behind him, sleepy and scared in his borrowed pyjamas.

“Taehyung is trying to keep the horse calm.” Jungkook told him, stifling a yawn. Namjoon shook his head and pointed out of the window.

“I mean outside. Why has the storm stopped?”

“We are in the eye of the storm.” a voice came from behind them. They both jumped in fright and whirled round to see Jin and Adora and the four children standing in the passage.

“They manipulate the weather to suit them. They force everyone inside with the storm and then place the eye over the location where they will be collecting.”

“What are you talking about?” Namjoon picked up Little Tae and held him close. Jin took a step closer and reached out, feeling sad when Namjoon flinched a little.

“Take Little Tae upstairs and lock the door. We will take care of everything, don’t worry.”

Namjoon nodded once and started towards the stairs. He looked at the other children.

“Shall I take them too?” 

Jin shook his head,

“No, we need them.” 

“Shall I take Kai upstairs?” Jungkook asked. Jin thought about it and nodded.

“Yes please, it will mean one less thing for Taehyung to worry about.”

Jungkook followed Namjoon up the stairs and showed him into Taehyung’s bedroom, locking the door behind them. It was the biggest room and they could all sit on the bed with the little ones between them.

“Will you tell me what's going on please?” Namjoon sounded really tired and scared. He held his son close to his chest, rubbing his back as much for his own comfort as the child’s.

“I can only tell you what I know, which isn’t much.” Jungkook settled Kai into a sleeping position in his arms, the baby still sucking on his sippy cup furiously.

“There are these people or things called Collectors. They are responsible for all the animals that go missing. They want Taehyung’s horse and they’ve come every night for the last three nights. The only reason they haven’t taken Midnight yet is because of the children.”

“What?”

“They aren’t normal kids. They have.. Abilities. I don’t even know what, but I swear last night, in the dark, I saw them glowing and facing down whatever was in that forest until it went away.”

Namjoon was just digesting this information when Kai sat upright again and pointed at the window and screeched

“Tete!”

Jungkook took him to look out and they saw light spilling out of the open door into the backyard. The power hadn’t come back on. It was coming from the group of people holding hands in a circle and humming.

“What on earth are they doing?” Jungkook heard Namjoon whisper from just behind him. 

“I have no idea.” Jungkook replied. Whatever it was they were doing, both their small charges were enraptured. Kai was leaning as far out of Jungkook’s arms as he could, fixated on his family below. Little Tae had half climbed up Namjoon’s leg and started to hum along with whatever song they were singing.

As they watched, the light intensified and the humming grew louder. Jungkook couldn't tell if it was coming from outside or from within his head, but he couldn’t stop listening, he wanted to get more. He opened the window, and gripping the frame leaned further and further out until he barely had his balance.

It was Kai who saved him from falling. While a participant, he was not under to influence of the sound and so was able to smack Jungkook smartly on the nose just before he toppled over, taking the boy with him.

“Kookie, no.” he said, placing his hands on Jungkook’s cheeks, “Kookie, stay.”

Jungkook slid to the floor, shivering. He had been ready to throw himself out, fly to the beautiful sound, until Kai had snapped him out of it. There was a thud as Namjoon sat down heavily next to him. Little Tae was standing on his tiptoes still humming along even though Namjoon couldn’t fathom how he would know the song.

  
  
  
  


They sat for what could have been hours or seconds, neither fully knowing what was happening, but the care of their small charges keeping them grounded enough to stay put in the room.

  
  
  
  
  


Both men registered that the rain had started falling again when the wind blew a spray in through the open window and onto their heads and shoulders. It seemed to snap them out of whatever semi reverie they were in and realised that someone was knocking on the bedroom door.

“Jungkookie? Can I come in?” It was Taehyung. He sounded like he did when he was trying to coax a nervous horse out of the stable.

Kai picked himself up off Jungkook’s lap and toddled over to the door, smacking it with both his hands. 

“Tete!” he called. 

“Hey baby, can you get Kookie for me?” his daddy replied gently. Kai turned and was toddling back to undoubtedly smack Jungkook on the nose again, when he was cut off in his stride as Jungkook got to his feet and lifted the baby up into his arms, so he could open the door.

“Hey.” Taehyung said once the door was open. “Are you all ok in here?” He spoke so cautiously as if he was afraid they would bolt.

Jungkook sensed that he needed to reassure him so he reached out and squeezed his arm.

“We are fine. I promise. I mean, we have no idea what happened, but we felt safe here.”

“You aren’t freaked out by us?” Taehyung’s eyes opened wide in uncertainty.

“No more than I was yesterday or the day before that.” Jungkook laughed. “This little one kept us grounded didn’t you Kai?” He booped Kai on the nose and Kai bashed him on the nose in return, showing all his 8 teeth as he cackled in delight.

Taehyung scooped him out of Jungkook’s arms and tapped him on the nose with his finger to get his attention.

“Don’t hurt Kookie. Kookie is our friend!”

“Kookie Mine.” Kai told him with no room for argument.

“Well, we will see about that.” Taehyung huffed and turned his attention to the two others in the room. Namjoon had got up and was holding Little Tae in his arms. The little boy had conked out after all the commotion.

“I’m so sorry that you had to see all of that.” Taehyung rushed out, horrified that they had dragged yet another unaware person into their island drama. 

Namjoon still looked a little stunned, but he placed a gentle hand on his son’s hair and frowned.

“I don’t know what you were doing, but when you all were humming, Taehyun was humming with you.”

  
  


“That’s right!” Jungkook added, “He wasn’t afraid at all, in fact it looked like he wanted to get out of the window so he could join you. He knew the tune, the words or whatever. I couldn’t make them out, but he definitely sang along as if it came naturally to him.”

Taehyung hitched a breath at that.  _ “As if it came naturally”  _ Could it be that yet another child who had come to the island, shared their bloodline? It was all too much to talk about tonight, it was almost dawn and everyone was exhausted.

“Namjoon, please go back to Seokjin’s room with your son and rest. The storm is here for at least another day, so Jin says there’s no rush for you to get back to the school.”

“Where will he sleep?” Namjoon asked, worried.

“On the sofa. He’s already decided so you mustn’t worry.” Namjoon looked like he was actually going to carry on worrying, so Taehyung herded him along the hallway to the room at the other end.

On his return he found his own room empty so he poked his head around the nursery door and found Jungkook sitting on the bed staring at the wall. 

“Hey,” he said awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.

“What’s up?”

“So Adora and Leela need somewhere to sleep, so if you don’t mind, I said they could have this room and you can bunk up with me and Kai?” He said this very quickly and blushing wildly.

It made a nice change from himself being the blushing mess, Jungkook thought as he stood up.

“Sure, no problem.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Jimin was alerted to the fact that the phones had come back online at 6am when he answered the phone to a very frantic Yoongi.

“The kids have gone!”

The school was in chaos. They still didn’t have power, but the landline had a dialling tone. Yoongi had woken up with a start at about 5.45am when a branch whipped against Adora’s bedroom window. He reached out and couldn’t feel anything. The bed was cold. He sat up and looked around for any sign of his daughter and friend bit there was none. 

He spent at least 2 minutes speed walking around Adora’s rooms before he ran back into the main school building and to the boys’ dorms. Not only was Beomgyu not squeezed into Soobin’s bed where he’d left him, neither of Seokjin’s boys were there either. 

He looked out of a window onto the area where the staff parked their cars and saw that Adora’s car was missing from it’s spot next to his own. Next stop was his office where he picked up the phone before he remembered the lines were out and heard the blessed sound that was the dialling tone.

It rang and rang and just when Yoongi was about to hang up he heard the gravelly tones of his husband’s morning voice.

“Hello.”

“The kids have gone!”

“Are they with Adora?”

“I don’t know, she’s gone too.”

Jimin yawned loudly, cracked his neck and hummed in thought. 

“Have you tried calling her yet?”

Yoongi shook his head,

“No, you were my first thought.”

“Oh darling, I love you so much. You are my first thought every single day too. But I’m fine, why don’t you give Adora a call, I’ll try Taehyung and then call you back after, ok?” He sat up in bed and saw the remains of his notes and books scattered across the bed.

“I have so much to tell you, I was doing some research last night and I think I’ve found out something really important, but let's find out where the kids are first.”

Adora’s phone went straight to voicemail. Yoongi guessed it had run out of battery some time in the night. He sat impatiently waiting for Jimin to call him back, and soon thought that he could function better on caffeine, so wandered down to the school kitchen to make some cold coffee by scooping two teaspoons of instant granules into a bottle of water and shaking it vigorously. There was no ice and no heating, so this was the best he could come up with. He sipped it as he walked back, telling himself that the caffeine would make up for the taste. He had just returned to his office when the phone rang.

“They are all at Seokjin’s house.” Jimin said calmly. “He didn’t say how they got there or why they went, but that they are all safe and will wait out the storm out there. They have the Aga, so there is heat and they can cook.”

Yoongi sank into his chair in relief and sighed into the receiver.

“What about you baby? Are you ok?” he said, his voice suddenly dropping back to the low gravelly drawl that Jimin loved.

“I’m very cold and lonely. But I have found your stash of tangerines and seaweed snacks, so I won’t go hungry.” 

Yoongi could hear the grin on his husband’s face. 

“Don’t eat all of them!” he whined, “I have to order them from the mainland.”

He waited for Jimin’s cackles to subside and then asked,

“What is the news you have for me?”

“Oh It’s so amazing! You won’t believe it!” Jimin sounded very excited. “But I need to show you, it’s all in my grandma’s old books. Shall I drive over? Then I can wait out the rest of the storm with you at the school.”

Yoongi looked out of the window. The rain was still pouring steadily, but the wind seemed to have dropped for now.

“Only come if you are confident driving in this rain.” He warned, “Don’t risk your safety.”

“I’ll be fine love. Leave the back door open, I’ll head over soon.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Jungkook woke up to the unfamiliar sensation of being cocooned from both sides. Taehyung was curled around his back, with one arm over his waist and Kai was starfished at his front, with one leg hooked over Jungkook’s bent leg. 

He smiled to himself, recalling his old uni friend’s obsession with romance novels,  _ “they were roommates!” “there’s only one bed!!”  _ There was no doubt that Yugeom would be delighted with the predicament that Jungkook now found himself in.

He uncurled an arm and brushed the soft strands of hair from the sleeping baby’s face. Kai was very cute when he was asleep. The slight movement caused Taehyung to stir behind him, and he tightened his arm, pulling Jungkook closer into his chest. 

Jungkook closed his eyes again, deciding that waking up in the arms of the most handsome, funny, charming man he’d ever met, was the least strange thing about his week so far. There were so many unanswered questions, but for now, he would enjoy the peace and warmth of the embrace he was laying in.

##  Interlude

_ From the Kim family records _

_ While Sirens use their song primarily to lure prey, they also can use it defensively. Legends tell of groups circling their young and joining hands to ward off predators. A siren only has two known true predators, sharks in the water and on dry land, humans. _

_Kim Jeom Dong 1893_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And they were room mates...

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by all the scary shows I watched and spoopy books I read growing up. I'm still scared of the Moomins.   
> It's not really that scary. I mean one person's faceless shadowy monster is another person's friendly neighbourhood phantom. 
> 
> I have some chapters written and I think I know where its going, I just love surprising myself with unexpected developments, characters do get a mind of their own sometimes. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!


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